


There's Something About Birdstyle

by roryheadmav



Category: Gatchaman
Genre: Gatchaman - Freeform, Humor, M/M, Masturbation, Some Bondage, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-09
Updated: 2008-04-08
Packaged: 2017-10-06 04:31:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roryheadmav/pseuds/roryheadmav
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joe vents his frustration at his inability to reveal his true feelings for Ken upon...of all things...their uniforms!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this story as a gift for four people. But since the gesture was largely unacknowledged and unappreciated, I thought it better to dedicate this story to two special people who deserve it. This is for artist Laura Zel Carboni, who helped me tremendously with the Italian for this story. Then, there's my best friend Aya, who bravely read this story despite not being a yaoi fan. I think it's pretty flattering when you have a non-yaoi fan say that she would only read yaoi that I have written. So thank you very much, Zel and Aya. This story's for you.

 

 

**PART ONE**

 

For Joe Asakura, birdstyle was an insidious garment of torture designed to test the limits of hot-blooded males like him, whose daily routine consisted of using the head between his shoulders for battling evil invaders hell-bent on world domination and the other 'head' between his legs for the conquest of unwary females who fall for his brooding good looks and rugged charms. When he was not doing either of these things, he would be found burning rubber on the racetrack or doing strenuous drills in the ISO Training Room. At this moment, he was in the Training Room's observation deck, glaring down at his intrepid leader as he fought a variety of mecha and dodged lasers, missiles and other deadly projectiles that were being thrown his way.

Indeed, Ken Washio – he who was known as Owashi No Ken or Eagle Ken, the White Shadow or simply Gatchaman – was a master fighter, a killing machine who, like his avian namesake, was always on the alert for attacks from any and all comers, whether it be common thugs or the upper echelon officers of Galactor.

Unfortunately, however, outside of work with the Kagaku Ninjatai, Ken was dense about everything else…in particular, the effect he had on people he came in contact with especially when he was dressed as his dashing alter ego. The Eagle was blissfully unaware that he was the cause of the frustration that was slowly and steadily building up in his second-in-command.

And that was because, to Joe, Ken was forbidden fruit, a vestal virgin he dared not sully. If Ken does not kill Joe himself for harboring an unnatural lust for him, the Kagaku Ninjatai's direct superior Nambu-Hakase – who was also Ken's foster father – was sure to have him summarily executed.

Given the growing strength of his feelings, it was very difficult for Joe to maintain his stoic façade as the Condor while watching his commander. Ken moved with the grace and fluidity of a dancer; every move was accentuated by the rise and fall of his flowing cape, which also functioned as wings. Worse, those traitorous wings had the tendency to flutter up during Joe's unguarded moments, exposing to his awe-struck steel gray eyes the lithe body underneath. It did not help any that the tight white, red and blue body suit clung to Ken's form like a second skin – every line, every contour, every curve of muscle and other sundry body parts clearly defined.

When Ken did a back flip over a rumbling drone, Joe found himself swallowing hard. Did he just see small, taut nipples straining against the fabric of the birdstyle as Ken's torso formed a perfect arch? When the Eagle settled down on his haunches as he landed on the floor, Joe had a mouth-watering glimpse of long lean legs clad in thigh-high blue boots that soared up to a lusciously tight ass.

Joe never ceased to be amazed by the ease by which Ken moved in his birdstyle. He had to admit that, although designed for freedom of movement and brief flight, he found their uniform constricting, confining…and downright sexually stimulating.

The Condor's memories brought him back to the time when Galactor was but a vague, shadowy menace whose existence was only whispered about in the spy circles of the ISO. It was a threat, however, that needed to be addressed when the time came. Four young men – he and Ken included – and a woman had been chosen to safeguard the welfare of Earth and all mankind. Hence, the Kagaku Ninjatai was born. But of course, as heroes, they needed the perfect costume.

It was Nambu-Hakase who designed the birdstyle. The fabric of the costume was woven with a metallo-organic fiber, which Nambu and the ISO scientists developed. The fiber has the property to rearrange its molecules upon application of a high frequency wave, transforming any clothing and footwear made with it into a pre-programmed bird uniform with the strength of battle armor.

Unlike the birdstyles they wore now, the prototypes did not transmute instantaneously. Back then, the transmutation process was slow, which one scientist – Joe overheard remark – likened to the molting of snakeskin.

To the Condor, however, wearing the birdstyle prototype was like performing a maddening striptease or, to be more precise, an intense foreplay. Up to now, he could still vividly remember the sensations as his civilian clothes melted onto his skin and spread all across his body like warm butter…or like the sweaty caress of hot palms. The garment would adhere to lines and crevices he never realized existed, fitting snugly to his magnificent physique.

No, Joe hastily amended. It hadn't been just a 'snug fit' in his nether regions. Before he learned to master the fine art of controlling his rampaging libido, the damned birdstyle prototype made any activity in his groin easily detectable. The worst part was his treacherous manhood never stirred at the sight of the white undies peeking out from under Jun's mini-skirt. Like a dowsing rod, it always zeroed in on the taut buttocks of Ken Washio.

Nambu himself had observed the 'phenomenon' – it could not be termed anything else but that – during one early training exercise. The Condor could only thank his lucky stars that it had been a group drill that day and that he had been moving too swiftly before his betraying erection could point accurately to its desired target. Even then, Nambu – with his meticulous eye – had not failed to notice his straining hard-on.

Taking him aside, Nambu had told him with professional frankness, "Joe, sex should be the LAST thing on your mind during battle." Pinching his chin, he quickly added, "On second thought, knowing the kind of man you are, I think your uniform should be in a darker color…to camouflage the…errr…ahem!" Nambu rumbled out that last word as he cocked an eyebrow up at his subordinate's dwindling erection.

Joe cursed under his breath. Who the hell does Nambu think he is – judging him a pervert of the highest order? He should have demanded from the scientist right then and there if he knew the effects the prototype had on his prim and proper young ward. Wasn't it documented in all the magazine articles he had read that it's usually the demure types who are the horniest ones of all? Joe refused to believe that he couldn't have been the only one getting aroused by the transmutating birdstyle. Then again, now after so many years have passed, the answer to his question was standing right below him – Ken's pristine white birdstyle that hid nothing on his delectable body, a striking contrast to his own blood red uniform. It was a dazzling testament to the Eagle's formidable self-control and unmatched purity. It made Joe feel downright dirty in comparison.

And yet, unwitting fashion maven that he was, Nambu-Hakase seemed oblivious to the fact that, with his great invention, he had transformed Ken into a love magnet. While Joe was the resident playboy of the team, just as many women swooned at Ken's feet at a blink from those baby blue eyes. Wasn't Jun tripping over him as well?

Now, even the Condor – the Casanova of the Kagaku Ninjatai – had fallen under the Eagle's spell. Another man, for god's sake! And he squarely pinned the blame on one thing.

"Damned birdstyle!" Joe growled inwardly. "Turning an Eagle Scout into a sexpot!"

Call it wrong timing, but Jinpei – the youngest and most annoying member of the team – chose that moment to remark about the very thing that was sticking at Joe's craw.

"Ken-aniki sure looks fantastic in birdstyle!" Jinpei threw a mischievous grin at a blushing Jun, who was staring enrapt at their dashing leader. "I mean, look at Jun! She can't keep her eyes off him!"

"Shut up, pipsqueak!" the Swan chided her adopted sibling, her face turning a deeper shade of red. "Ken might hear you!"

Joe rolled his eyes heavenwards. _Couldn't you be more obvious?_

Ryu crossed his arms behind his head. "You gotta give credit to Nambu-Hakase. Who'd ever thought the guy had an eye for style? Could you just imagine how we'd look if we dressed like comic book heroes?"

"Yeah!" Jinpei shuddered at the thought. "We'd look just as stupid as Superman…" There was a suppressed chuckle. "…Wearing briefs outside of his tights."

Joe's face soured instantly. _Heaven forbid! Not that awful joke! _

An amused snort from Ryu. "Not as dumb as Batman. Not only does he wear his briefs on top of his tights, he even has to wear a belt to keep them both up."

Jun burst into giggles, causing Joe's opinion of her to drop several notches lower.

"True, true! But Robin is the dumbest of them all…" Jinpei chortled. "…Because he aped Batman's style!"

At that last, Jun, Ryu and Jinpei cheered in unison "THANK GOD FOR BIRDSTYLES!" and howled with laughter.

That hearty tribute to the straitjacket they called a uniform caused Joe to lose his tenuous grip over his temper. With arms akimbo, he stormed over to his laughing comrades.

"What the hell are you guys cheering for anyway? Do you honestly think these birdstyles are THAT great?" The Condor rounded on a startled Ryu, who stepped back from his angry figure. "Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? You're fat! The layers of your blubber jiggle visibly through your uniform! It's gross…like Moby Dick in spandex!"

"HEY…!" The Owl began to retort in offense, but Joe turned his wrathful attention to Jinpei.

"You…" He poked a hard finger at the scrawny boy's sternum. "…Need to grow up! Your codename is the Swallow? In that costume, you look like a Tweety Bird!"

Jinpei's lower lip quivered at that tongue-lashing. With a cry, he ran to Jun and hid behind her. The Swan was furious.

"Damn it, Joe! What's your problem, huh?" Jun demanded, draping her wings protectively over her adopted brother. "You may be second-in-command, but that doesn't give you the right to..."

Suddenly, Joe loomed over Jun like a hideous Galactor mecha. "And as for you, what in damnation are you trying to pull – wearing only panties under that poor excuse of a skirt? Did you think you're going to attract guys looking like a slut? Only Berg Katse's goons are that frustrated enough to peek! Besides, in my opinion, there is nothing more disgusting than the sight of thick patches of dark curls poking out of the sides of a white panty's crotch! If you don't want to offend a man's aesthetic sensibilities, wear bloomers!"

"Joooe…" His name came out as an ominous snarl from Jun's lips, as she slowly raised a clenched fist. "YOU SICKO!"

Suddenly, Joe found himself flying backwards and crashing through the glass of the observation deck. Then, he was falling, falling. The pain as his body impacted with the mini-tank – which was about to shoot Ken from behind – was greater than the pain of a hard fist hitting his jaw.

For what seemed like forever, Joe lay motionless on top of the broken remains of the training mecha…until a familiar voice achingly dragged him back to his senses.

"Joe? Joe, are you all right? That's one fucked up landing. I don't know exactly what happened, but thanks for saving me! I never saw that tank coming up behind me."

Dazed, confused and bewildered, the Condor cracked his eyes open to behold a blurry vision of a beautiful brown-haired angel with pretty blue eyes and shining white robes gazing down at him in concern. Joe quickly squeezed his eyelids shut, not because of the wave of dizziness that washed over him. He was overwhelmed by the dazzling figure hovering above him.

"No…too bright…" he moaned, raising a feeble arm to drive away the lovely vision. "…Am melting…"

"Joe, you're not an ice cube." There was a hint of amusement in the angel's voice, although he could not mask his worry totally. "Your brain just got scrambled a bit by that nasty fall you took, that's all. As far as I can tell, you aren't discombobulating, and no broken bones either, but I think you've dislocated your jaw. You've got a big black bruise here." The Condor winced as a finger poked the left side of his jaw.

From somewhere above, Jun yelled, "Isn't that fool dead yet?"

A shocked gasp. "You did this?"

"He deserved it! Sick pervert!"

"Am not…" Joe had to say something in his defense, but he couldn't seem to get his brain and mouth to work in proper coordination. "Not…fault…damn…form…fuck…style…"

"Now, now! No need to curse. I'm sure Jun didn't mean it."

"Did too! I've never been so humiliated in my life!"

The exchange of words was causing Joe's whole head to pound like a jackhammer. Opening his eyes once more, only then did he realize that the sapphire-eyed beauty holding him was not an angel at all – it was Ken sans his helmet. But – Horror of horrors! – He was still wearing that accursed birdstyle.

Gripping the Eagle by the front of his cape, Joe shook Ken hard, shrieking madly, "You have to get out of this uniform, Ken! It's the Devil's infernal garments which he uses to corrupt the pure in body and soul!"

But Ken blinked at him in confusion. "Calm down, Joe! You're hallucinating! These are birdstyles, remember? Our uniforms! Look, you're wearing one too!"

"No!" Joe cried stubbornly, as he reached down to the waistband of Ken's tights. "I won't let these devilish clothes brainwash me into tainting a virgin like you."

His cheeks burning from having his state of innocence exposed so loudly, Ken tried to wriggle free from the Condor's hands that were determined to strip him.

"Uh, Joe? I don't think you need brainwashing. If you don't get a grip on your addled head, you're bound to do something you might regret." A hesitant pause followed by a shy admission. "I wouldn't, though."

Joe barely heard that last as his vision began to dim. Yet, his frustration at being unable to tear off Ken's evil birdstyle remained in his heart.

Consciousness slowly deserting him, the Condor whispered in the Eagle's ear, "Shouldn't wear this…" In a last ditch attempt to maintain awareness, his hand dropped even lower, his fingers finding purchase on a round curve of Ken's buttock.

 

"Why don't you sit down, Ken?" Dr. Nina Trieste – a member of the ISO's team of physicians – pursed her lips at the chair beside the bed. "It might take awhile for me to get the results of the head scans. While I still think that Joe merely suffered a concussion, your description of his bizarre behavior troubled me. I have to be sure he didn't suffer any brain damage."

There was a rosy glow on Ken's cheeks as he shrugged his cape over his shoulders and took the offered seat with exaggerated care. As if wanting to take the weight off his behind, he leaned forward, laying his clasped, gloved hands, arms and elbows over the bed. Slumbering deeply as a result of his head injury, Joe – his head carefully bandaged up – was unaware of the presence of Ken and the doctor inside the infirmary.

Dr. Trieste was amused by the Eagle's sitting position. "And what's wrong with you, my boy? Hemorrhoids troubling you, or did someone finally claim your prudish posterior?"

"DOCTOR!" Ken grew even redder. It looked as if he had eaten a fistful of wasabi.

"Just kidding! Just kidding!" the doctor wagged her hands. "You seem a bit uptight about something, so I thought I'd loosen you up a bit."

There was a luscious pout on Ken's full lips. "It wasn't funny, Doctor!"

Dr. Trieste smiled and approached the sulking figure. Ruffling Ken's wayward mane, she said truthfully, "You really are a sweet kid, Eagle Ken. Up to now, I can't believe you remain unattached. I know some of your teammates have gone out on a date or two. You really should find someone to love. You won't be fighting Galactor forever, you know."

The corners of Ken's mouth lifted in the semblance of a wistful smile. "Actually, I already have…" Hastily, he added before the doctor could speak, "…And it's not Jun. But…I don't think it's going to work out."

The good doctor did not say any more. Judging from the painful longing in Ken's blue eyes, it was all too obvious to her that the object of his unrequited affections was the injured man on the bed.

Patting his shoulder comfortingly, Dr. Trieste began, "Well, I really don't want to impose on you, seeing that you just came from a training exercise, and you're still even dressed in your birdstyle. Could you please watch over Joe for me while I get his test results? I promise I'll be back in a jiff."

Ken made a nonchalant shrug. "Sure. This is part of my job after all as leader of the Kagaku Ninjatai – to look after the welfare of my teammates."

"Thanks, Ken."

It was only when the door clicked shut behind him that Ken was able to exhale in relief. Sometimes, Dr. Trieste was too motherly, making him feel uncomfortable and happy at the same time.

Turning to the slumbering figure on the bed, he said with a sad little smile, "I guess it's just you and me." Abiding an irresistible urge, Ken reached up and tucked a stray wisp of mocha brown hair under Joe's bandage. Running his fingers through the Condor's wavy locks at the top of his head, he confessed, "I'm confused with myself, Joe. When did my feelings for you change?"

Ever since they became teammates, Ken was content with the fiery friendship he had with the Condor. While they were comrades-at-arms and beer buddies at the best of times, during their worst moments, they could be found arguing and beating the crap out of each other. Indeed, they were a strange pair – always contradicting one another. Whenever Joe was in one of his mood swings, it was the Eagle who made him see reason. If it's Ken who was being reckless, Joe could be counted upon to get him out of harm's way.

They were so much alike and yet so incompatible, especially when it came to matters of the heart.

Ken was all too aware of the Condor's reputation as a ladies' man. Not a week went by without him seeing Joe going out of a bar or a dance joint in the city with a girl in his arms. On a few occasions, he had actually seen Joe with TWO women.

Wasn't just having one woman a handful already?

The Eagle, on the other hand, chose to immerse himself in work – both at the ISO and as an airmail carrier flying his little Cessna. He shunned any and all romantic entanglements, which were more likely to end in tragedy. The death of his father had shown him that he did not have the mettle to deal with painful emotions.

That all changed, however, after the deep-sea mission he and Joe had on board the Marine Satan. Seeing the Condor about to lose his sight and sanity to a blocked out memory from his tragic childhood, Ken forced him to gaze into the flames and recover that crucial bit that lay buried in the deepest recesses of his mind. And what they had found was a horrible truth indeed – that Joe was the son of an ex-officer of Galactor.

"What have you done, Ken?" Joe's voice had been thick with anguish and anger. "I was better off not knowing the truth about my past. I will hate you forever for restoring this terrible memory to me!"

At that outburst, Ken had felt a rending inside his chest. That pain had been incomparable to the heartache at his father's demise. Even as he had helped Joe back to the Marine Satan and barely escaped from the exploding enemy submarine, the pain had lingered as a heaviness that made breathing difficult. How he had managed to maintain a cool façade with Joe beside him seemed nothing short of a miracle.

For a time, none of them had said a word, until Joe had spotted the five missing ISO technicians they had been charged to find, floating in their mini-submersibles, trapped in the icy grip of ghost water. As though nothing had happened between them, Ken had acted in his usual professional manner, explaining to his teammate that he dared not attempt a rescue in those deceptively calm waters lest they get trapped themselves. It had been after he had reported the fates of the technicians to Nambu-Hakase that Joe had noticed that Ken had omitted one vital piece of information.

The Condor had looked at him as though he had lost his mind. "Ken, why didn't you tell Nambu-Hakase the truth?"

"What? That your father was a Galactor agent? But he left that evil organization to be with you and your mother, didn't he?" Ken had pointed out to him. "That's all in the past. Giuseppe Asakura may have been a member of Galactor, but it's not true for his son. You are – and always will be – a member of the Kagaku Ninjatai, and don't you forget that."

An embarrassed smile had formed on Joe's face then, and the Eagle could tell that he was having trouble finding the words to say sorry for his outburst earlier. But Ken had needed no apologies. To help his teammate and friend through his personal crisis – that had been enough for him.

Yet, when they had finally returned to the surface, Joe had taken the hand that Ken had offered to help him climb out of the submarine, when earlier he had rebuffed a similar gesture of assistance. The warm smile on the Condor's face spoke volumes as their hands clasped – a sign of a promise that there could be so much more between them.

However, with the passage of time, with every little gift of a rare smile from Joe whenever they were alone together, Ken was being overcome by fear and cowardice. What if he were reading Joe's actions wrong? Could he jeopardize the close friendship that they have now for the aching desires of his heart? What could a man of the world like the Condor find interesting and appealing in someone as inexperienced as he?

As if tempting fate, a low moan issued from the lips of the injured man lying on the bed. Despite his apprehensions, Ken brightened up, seeing Joe's eyelids twitch as he struggled for awareness.

Shrugging away his troubled thoughts, Ken leaned over to look closely at Joe's face. "Joe! How're you feeling?"

"Talk…loud…" Joe mumbled, his brows knitting together in a frown. "So dizzy…" He cracked his right eye open, only to snap it shut again with a groan. Despite his claim that he felt woozy, the Condor shook his head and laid his arm over his eyes, as if he were rejecting the presence of his teammate.

Ken found that gesture upsetting. Unable to hide his resentment, he said, "I just thought I'd make sure you were going to be all right. I didn't mean to disturb your rest. Since you're obviously on the road to recovery, I'd better get going so you could sleep and…"

Just as Ken was getting to his feet, a hand whipped out from under the bed sheet and closed around his wrist. There was a strong tug, and Ken found himself tumbling into bed facing the Condor.

"Joe, what are you…"

A callused fingertip pressed over his full lips. "Sssssh! Noisy…"

Ken felt the blood rush up to his cheeks when Joe gingerly turned on his side and drew the Eagle into his embrace. Feeling the length of Ken's cape behind him, Joe tossed it irritatingly aside and let it dangle over the edge of the bed. For what seemed like an eternity of heart-pounding tension, he lay stock-still and breathless as the Condor's hands slid up and down his back.

"No…grrrr…"

Shyly, Ken hugged Joe back to soothe away his agitation. Although Joe seemed to be relaxing bit by bit, his hands continued its careful exploration of the Eagle's back. A soft gasp escaped Ken's lips as long, hard fingers cupped his buttocks.

"Like…nothing…on…." Joe mumbled, still growling like an angry puppy.

Right then and there, Ken made the ultimate decision. No time was as good as now to confess his true feelings to the man in his arms.

Blushing furiously at the feel of those hands kneading his butt, Ken timidly began, "Joe, there's something that I've been meaning to tell you for a long time now."

"Hmmm…"

That hum bolstered Ken's confidence as he stammered, "Joe…I…I wanted to tell you…that…I…I want…" One deep breath and he let it all spill out. "I LOVE YOU, JOE!"

"HMMMM?"

"Please don't be angry! I'd rather be honest with you than keep my feelings a secret. It's true, Joe! I love you so much, and…" Deafening silence followed that slowly tore at the Eagle's heart. "But if you can't love me in this way, I…I'd understand. We…we could still be friends and…"

_"Madre..."_

__Ken's head snapped up at that feeble cry, a frown creasing his brow. "Mother? But I'm not…"

Then, Joe mumbled pleadingly in Italian, _"Madre, per favore…prega…me…non posso peccare…angelo…Ken…"_

Unknown to the Condor, Ken had been secretly taking Italian lessons during his off days in order for him to be able to converse with his teammate in his native tongue. After all, Joe was very fluent in the Eagle's native language of Japanese. Of course, there was Ken's other motive – that with Italian being the language of romance, perhaps a few choice sentences could help spark the passion between them, even if at this 'just-friends' stage, such steamy sentiments were virtually non-existent.

So it was to an unwitting Joe's detriment that Ken was able to piece together what he was mumbling in his delirium.

_"Madre, per favore prega per me! Non posso sopportare di peccare con un angelo come Ken!"_

"Mama, please pray for me! I can't afford to sin with an angel like Ken!"

The Eagle slowly eased himself up, his face darkening in growing anger. Unaware of the change in the man in his embrace, Joe continued to grope and caress Ken's tightening posterior.

With gritted teeth, Ken snarled back in Italian, _"Beh SCUSA di averti sedotto, compare…ma se non vuoi peccare con me, SMETTI DI STRIZZARMI IL CULO!"_

 

Nambu-Hakase was on his way to the infirmary to check up on his battered subordinate. He was rubbing his aching temples as he walked, in the hopes of relieving the terrible headache he had developed as a result of the exchange he had with Jun. The ISO administrator had chided the Swan about controlling her temper and not venting her fury on her teammate over such a trivial issue as underwear and pubic hair.

Jun, however, was too furious to accept the scolding. Pounding her fists on Nambu's desk, she rebutted, "But, Hakase, how would you feel if you were in my place? For Joe to say something like that, it means that he WAS peeking!"

"I'm sure Joe didn't mean anything bad about what he said," Nambu suddenly found himself on the defensive. "Let's face it. I did design your birdstyle based on your specifications. But, for modesty's sake, wouldn't it be prudent to take his suggestion and add shorts to your ensemble? Or maybe you could…you know…shave a bit…down there…"

The Swan let out an offended shriek then_. "AAAH! I'm surrounded by perverts! I swear the only decent guy in this place is Ken!" _She then stomped out of his office before he could say more, the electronic sliding door hissing close behind her.

Nambu could not stop himself from chuckling. _Ken? Decent? The only reason why you think he's decent is because the poor boy is still a virgin! _

The good doctor wondered how Jun would react if she learned who the man of her dreams was truly pining for.

"Poor Joe!" Nambu clucked his tongue, shaking his aching head. "Living on borrowed time!"

When he reached the infirmary at last, the doctor stopped for a moment in the hallway to fix his tie. As he laid his hand on the doorknob, he heard someone shout in Italian inside. Nambu's mind made a quick translation.

"Well, SORRY for seducing you, pal…but if you don't want to sin with me, THEN STOP SQUEEZING MY BUTT!"

At first, Nambu thought it was Joe who had spoken, but listening closely, he immediately recognized Ken's voice. Then, there was a heavy thud coming from within, which prompted the doctor to open the door. Just as he did so, Ken ran past him, his white and crimson cape fluttering behind him. Although his ward's head was bowed low, Nambu did not fail to see the tear tracks that streaked his cheeks. Training his gaze towards the Condor, he saw that Joe was lying sprawled on the bed, the bed sheet thrown in a heap on the floor. The bandage on his head had been knocked askew. There was a growing lump on his forehead that the doctor knew was not there before.

Nambu could not help the grin that lifted not only the corners of his mouth, but the tips of his mustache as well.

"Well, well…" he declared in mixed amusement and trepidation. "So Ken has finally decided to act on his feelings." The doctor approached the unconscious figure on the bed and gave him a solid rap on the head.

"NAMBU-HAKASE!" A just returned Dr. Trieste exclaimed from the doorway, horrified by what she had witnessed. "What do you think you're doing?"

Nambu, however, ignored her. Bending down, he whispered in Joe's ear, "Don't fuck things up, Joe my boy, or else I'll kill you!"

Straightening up, Nambu cheerfully told a shocked Dr. Trieste "Carry on, carry on!" as though nothing had happened. With hands thrust in the pockets of his coat, the good doctor marched out of the infirmary, whistling a merry tune.


	2. Chapter 2

**PART TWO**

As a doctor and scientist, Kouzaburou Nambu never considered Psychiatry to be one of his strong fields of expertise. However, he had to admit to having perverse enjoyment in seeing the many ridiculous ways by which couples with relationship problems react. When one in the pair is still suffering from the ill effects of a head injury, the reactions could be disastrously hilarious.

Take Subject No. 1: Joe Asakura, who was sitting on the couch outside his office, with his entire head swathed in bandages, which made him look like a demented Sikh. There was an expression of pain and utter perplexity on his face as he stared at his right hand, opening and closing it as if he were waiting for a mouth to materialize on his palm that would confess to a transgression that he never remembered committing.

Then, there was Subject No. 2: Ken Washio, whom Joe was obviously waiting for. Nambu was giving his young ward the details of the Kagaku Ninjatai's next mission. There was nothing on Ken's handsome face that betrayed his inner turmoil, but the good doctor could see those baby blues flick over to the security monitor to watch the restless man waiting in the hallway. Often, he would see a look of concern cross Ken's face whenever Joe gripped his head in obvious pain. Nambu reached for a file, his pinky discreetly pressing the button for a close-up. Oh, how becoming was the pink color that dotted the Eagle's cheekbones, not to mention the way his hand carefully slid to his back! By all appearances, it seemed like he was standing 'at ease', but Nambu knew he was covering his behind. Ken was only too happy when his foster father dismissed him. Flustered as the Eagle was, Nambu did not wish to prolong the boy's discomfiture any longer.

When the door of his office slid close, the good doctor swung his chair around to face the monitor and watch the continuation of the drama outside.

Ken had paused outside Nambu's door, assuming his characteristic slouch – head and shoulders drooping much lower than before, back bent like Quasimodo, and thumbs tucked in the pockets of his white bell bottoms. With his long, wavy chocolate brown hair – which looked as if a comb hadn't raked it in years, Ken was the very image of a lazy hippie.

_Surely that posture couldn't be good for him, _Nambu thought critically.

Joe, however, couldn't be happier to see him. With a wave of the hand he was flexing earlier, he greeted, "Hi!"

The Eagle blanched at the sight of that hand. It seemed that Ken had made the decision that being with the Condor – more than his bad posture – was detrimental to his overall well-being. Ignoring that greeting, he started to walk off in the opposite direction.

Joe swiftly reached for the departing figure, crying, "Hey, Ken! Wait a minute, will you?" Like the claws of a lobster, his fingers closed with a snap on a hunk of shapely butt.

With a squeal of shock, Ken jumped as though he had been electrocuted. Favoring his abused behind, he whirled around to glower at the Condor. Joe was taken aback; never had the Eagle looked at him so fiercely.

"I'm sorry," Joe sounded so contrite. "You ignored me and I wanted to talk to you about something." He looked at his offending right hand in confusion. "I don't know. It's just that my hand seemed to have a mind of its own for a moment there. I didn't mean anything by it. Honest!"

Nambu's mouth twitched, seeing how the boy's blue eyes narrowed. Was Ken upset that Joe goosed him or was he disappointed by the fact that – as the Condor claimed – the gesture did not carry the anticipated sign of a possible attraction behind it?

Lines creased Ken's forehead, as he demanded, "What do you want?"

To only make matters worse, Joe stood up and approached the wary Eagle. Ken stiffened as his teammate yanked his T-shirt from the waistband of his pants and let it drop to cover his lower body.

"That's better!" Joe remarked, pleased by what he had done. "Even in bell bottoms, you still look like you're wearing that damned birdstyle. Must be because of the color white. You really should think about wearing dark colors for a change." He reached down and cupped a taut mound. "See? With your prudish little tushie shielded from view, it won't be a temptation to lechers."

"Oh, is that right?" There was an ominous tone in Ken's voice. "Then would you mind telling me what it is you're doing?"

"Eh?" Joe trained his eyes down at that query and froze, but with his hand still fitting the tight curve of the Eagle's bottom.

Seething in fury, Ken yelled, "If you don't mean anything by what you're doing, GET YOUR HAND OFF MY BUTT!"

Jun, Ryu and Jinpei happened to be on their way to Nambu-Hakase's office when they stumbled upon their teammates in this indecent position.

"That's telling him, Ken!" Jun crowed in fiendish glee. "It's about time someone taught that pube-peeping pervert a lesson!"

Watching the proceedings inside his office, Nambu almost choked at that hilarious description.

Because of the swiftness by which Jun spoke, Ryu was scratching his head in confusion. "Pube peep whatsis?"

"It's a new tongue twister!" Jinpei piped in. "Try saying 'Pube-peeping pervert' ten times fast!"

The duo started saying that phrase over and over again, their tongues tripping over the P's, much to the annoyance of the Condor.

"Who the hell are you calling a pervert, huh? Is this what I get for showing you brotherly concern?" Joe rounded on Jun, his grip tightening on the Eagle's behind that Ken let out a pained squawk. "Don't you see what these accursed birdstyles are doing to us? It's changing us into people with loose morals and wanton desires!"

"Uh, Joe…" Ryu interrupted. "If I remember correctly, you already WERE a man of loose morals and wanton desires before you put on your first birdstyle."

"That's beside the point!"

"Ohhh? So what is your point then?" Jun's eyes narrowed into slits at the Condor. "You didn't have any problems with the birdstyles before. Back then, you were even preening in front of a mirror like a peacock, saying that it made you look sexy!"

"I'm not talking about me; I'm talking about YOU! The birdstyles are changing you, that's what! I mean, look at you. Now, this is the Jun I know – kinda pretty, a bit of a tomboy when you're not being flirty. Practically unappealing."

"HEY! I RESENT THAT!"

"But…when you change into the Swan…" Joe continued, "…You become a siren in a micro-mini, and a tasteless one at that!"

"You're accusing me of having NO TASTE?" Jun was practically shrieking.

"Well, I'm not the one wearing plain white panties under a mini-skirt and exposing my pubes to public scrutiny."

"If you find it distasteful, then why did you even bother to look in the first place?"

"With the way you've been high-kicking every Galactor goon, anyone and everyone could see! They don't have to break their necks to peep!"

"Guys, would you break this up, PLEASE?" Ken growled as Joe's fingers squeezed his bum for the umpteenth time. "I don't think my butt can take any more abuse!"

Jinpei, however, was delighted by the Condor's insane implications. "Hey, Ryu! If what Joe says is true – that our birdstyles have personality-changing properties, we'll be turning into babe magnets in no time!"

"Yeah, you're right!" Ryu agreed, giving his diminutive teammate a high five. "It's high time we got our share of the female attention!" He then described one such picturesque scenario, with the Swallow nodding along. "Just imagine, Jinpei – you and I in a hot and steamy onsen with girls smothering us with perfumed kisses, and their manicured hands exploring…."

"DISPEL THAT THOUGHT! It's obscene!" Joe shuddered all over. "Instead of thinking about yourselves, imagine what the birdstyle can do to HIM!" As he said that last, he pointed a finger straight at a startled Eagle's face.

Ken suddenly found himself the center of unwanted attention, as his teammates grimly looked him over from head to toe. "Wh…what?"

No one answered his stammered question, as they all lapsed into the pose of deep, troubled thought – frowning faces, right elbows propped up on their folded left arms, fingers pinching their chins.

Nambu snickered at the expressions on the faces of Jun, Jinpei and Ryu. Since the only example that they have of a freewheeling playboy was Joe, it wasn't difficult to picture what was running through their heads – Ken zooming through the sky in the G-1 throwing roses at swooning females below, Ken dating one girl after another, Ken drinking it up in a bar or dancing up a storm in a disco.

On the other hand, having more experience in worldly matters, Joe's imagination ran to the more risqué.

"Joe, you're thinking dirty thoughts, aren't you?" Jinpei said accusingly. "You've got a drop of blood hanging out of your right nostril."

"NO!" Joe gasped out. "I won't let that happen! Not to my angel Ken!"

"I'm not an angel, much more yours, Joe!" Ken snarled, simmering in growing rage. "Now, would you mind…"

"You really are a damned pervert!" Jun cried furiously. "I bet you're planning to peep at Ken's pubes too!"

"Why would I want to peep at Ken's pubes? He's already as good as naked in his birdstyle! Besides, I'm pretty sure his pubes aren't anything like yours! It's like you've got an Afro under there!"

"That's it! I've had enough of your insults! Put 'em up, Condor!"

Ken would do anything to relieve his bruised ass of those squeezing fingers. "Joe, I think it would be a good idea if you let me go and just defend yourself."

"Oh, I'll fight you all right, as long as it's with fists. No kicking! I don't think my stomach could stand it."

"Moron! I'm wearing pants!"

"Ryu…Jinpei…For god's sake, DO SOMETHING!"

"Hey, look what I found, Ryu! It's a hair…and it's curly!"

"But Jun's wearing pants. That couldn't be hers! Nambu-Hakase's perhaps?"

Nambu was waving his fist at the security monitor. "Why did my name get dragged into this crazy discussion?!"

Ignored and abused, Ken exploded like a Super Bird Missile. "If you don't understand English, then…_GIÙ LE MANI DAL MIO CULO!_"

At that shout, everyone gaped at the Eagle in surprise. It was only then that Joe realized what he was still doing, and he jerked his hand back as though he had touched a live wire. But then, his shock was soon replaced by amazement and undisguised happiness.

"Ken…how long have you been able to speak Italian? Were you planning to surprise me?"

Ken's face turned crimson, and for a few seconds, he couldn't get his mouth to work. With an exhale of embarrassment and mild exasperation, he ordered snappily, "I'm out of here! I want all of you to report to the Briefing Room in 1300 hours! Until then, I don't want to see any of your faces!"

"Wait, Ken!" Joe went after him. "You haven't answered my question yet!"

"Shut up!"

"Come on! Why don't you say something to me in Italian?"

_"LASCIAMI IN PACE!"_

The Condor grimaced. "That's not what I had in mind. How about 'I love you, Joe'? That would be nice!"

Ken clapped his hands over his ears, screaming _"SE NE VADA!"_ and made a break for the end of the hallway.

"Hey, wait up!" Joe gave chase. "We are going to be discussing a change in uniforms at the briefing later, right?"

Jun was frowning in suspicion as she watched the two leaders of the Kagaku Ninjatai disappear from view. "Why do I get the feeling that Joe's turning gay?"

"If he were, you'd only have yourself to blame, sis," Jinpei scolded the Swan in a know-it-all manner. "You're the one who knocked the screws in Joe's head loose."

"How about I do the same to you, Jinpei?"

Ryu waved to his teammates. "Come on! We're already late! Nambu-Hakase's going to have our hides!"

When they entered Nambu's office, however, they found the doctor leaning back in his plush executive chair, roaring with laughter.

"Oh, great!" Jun's shoulders sagged in dismay. "Whatever it is Joe's got, it's contagious."

Nambu's laughter quickly died down at that remark. He straightened up in his seat and faced them. "And what do you mean by that, Jun? If Joe is not being himself, then whose fault is that?"

Chastened by those rebuking queries, the Swan cast her eyes down to a point between her toes. "You wanted to speak to us, sir?"

Crossing his arms over his chest, Nambu said curtly, "No, I changed my mind. The briefing we'll have would suffice."

"Sorry, sir."

"Just make sure you're on time later. You can go."

At that dismissal, they gave their superior a perky salute. Jun and Ryu headed straight for the door, but Jinpei hesitated. With great reluctance, he approached Nambu again.

"Sir…" he said meekly. "I think you dropped this, sir." Before Nambu could say anything, Jinpei turned on his heels and dashed between the Swan and the Owl, running out into the hallway. Ryu and Jun quickly followed.

Seeing what Jinpei had laid on his desk, Nambu let out a loud "Harrumph!" It was not out of annoyance, but more to stop himself from lapsing into another laughing fit.

"Damn that boy!" Nambu grumbled, poking at the curly hair strand with the tip of his pen. "How could he say this hair is mine? Not only is it the wrong color, I'm damned sure mine is not this kinky!"

 

Nambu learned that the Kagaku Ninjatai's mission – to destroy a secret Galactor training camp in Tubatara Island, located in the Maharlika archipelago – had been successful after a brief communication with a strangely subdued Eagle. It was only hours later that the good doctor found out just HOW successful the mission was. The fact that Ken popped into his office for a debriefing dressed in his civvies – not in his birdstyle, which was his usual attire after disembarking from the God Phoenix – was a bad sign that things did not really go so well.

Settling back into his seat, bracing himself for the worst, Nambu urged his ward, "Let's hear your report, Owashi No Ken."

Ken's voice was being strangled by apprehension at the thought of having to tell every embarrassing detail of their mission to the ISO's Chief Scientist, but duty called for him to give a complete report, even if it would make his team look like a bunch of incompetents. Taking a deep breath to calm his frayed nerves, the Eagle told Nambu what happened.

Right on schedule, the Kagaku Ninjatai had assembled in the God Phoenix and took off for Maharlika. It had been smooth flying for a half-hour, which made Ken edgy. After all, from experience, it was when things looked peaceful that Galactor would spring a surprise attack. Just to be on the safe side, he had the team do a mid-air systems check and radar sweep of the area. All responded to his questions as he ticked off the items on his mental checklist one by one…except for Joe. Instead, the Condor was sitting stiffly in his chair, mumbling to himself. Upon closer scrutiny, Ken saw that Joe has his eyes closed, and that he was actually saying the Lord's Prayer in Italian.

"Joe? What in heaven's name are you doing?" Ken couldn't stop himself from asking, although he already knew what Joe's answer would be. "You are praying for the success of our mission, I hope."

His hands forming a steeple, the Condor shook his head. "I'm praying to the Good Lord that he shield me from the wiles of birdstyles…" He threw a sharp glance at the Swan. "…And to spare me from any obscene views of Jun's crotch. AMEN!"

As Joe crossed himself with the devoutness of a candidate for sainthood, the Swallow was struggling in vain to restrain an irate Swan. "Let me go, Jinpei! Just one yoyo bomb! Just one! That's all it would take to put that fool out of his misery!"

Ken himself was tempted to deck the Condor with his bird rang, but stamped down on the urge to do so, fearing that another knock on his head might cause further brain damage. Instead, he laid a gentle hand on his second-in-command's shoulder. As Joe looked at him questioningly, he pleaded, "Joe, now is not the time for this. If the birdstyles bother you that much, I promise we'll change out of them as soon as we return to Crescent Coral. You know that we have to keep our true identities a secret for security reasons. Surely you understand that."

There was a grudging tone in Joe's voice as he said, "I understand. I don't have to like it, but – believe me – I do understand."

"_Grazie,_ Joe," Ken gave his friend a grateful pat. But before he could remove his hand, the Condor's fingers closed around it.

The Eagle did not tell Nambu how that had felt, that moment when their hands were joined – his fingers trembling and his palm sweating inside his glove, the heat that radiated from Joe's tender grip, the way his heart pounded so loudly that he thought the Condor would feel its fast rhythm in his pulse…

"_Scusatemi,_ Ken," Joe apologized in grave seriousness. "I know how upsetting this must be for you, but I'm only looking after your welfare."

At first, Ken was at a loss for words. _Does this mean he cares about me? Or is he only saying this because he's still not right in the head?_

Smiling shyly, the Eagle answered, "I really appreciate your concern for me, but you know I can take care of myself."

"Yes, I know, but there are so many evils in the world, evils far greater than Galactor, I…I don't want you to…"

"Joe, despite the squeaky clean image you have of me inside your head, I'm no angel. I'm not the innocent that you think me to be." There…that was the closest he would ever get to revealing the truth about himself.

"But that's the birdstyle corrupting you!"

_Not again!_ Ken groaned inwardly.

"You have to help me convince Nambu-Hakase to come up with a new design for our uniforms."

The Eagle gently pried his hand out of the Condor's grasp. "Mission first, Joe. We'll talk about this when we get back," he said with a reassuring smile.

After concealing the God Phoenix in a nearby coral reef, it had been easy for Ken and the others to infiltrate the camp. As they had planned, they planted time bombs in the underground smelting plant, taking extra care that they do not fall into the molds – large holes in the floor joined by interconnecting pipes, which were used to manufacture missile casings. What they had not counted on was for Ryu to accidentally trip an infrared beam, triggering the alarm. In a matter of seconds, they found themselves surrounded by Galactor thugs and – lo and behold! – leading them was Berg Katse himself. Oh, how the Eagle ached to plant his fist on that heavily-lipsticked mouth to quiet his effeminate ranting!

But as the Kagaku Ninjatai leaped into action, Ken found himself lifted in strong arms and dumped unceremoniously into a mold.

"JOE!" he called out to his teammate standing at the edge of the pipe above him. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Just stay put down there! Don't worry! I'll protect you!"

"I DON'T NEED YOU TO PROTECT ME!"

Like it or not, however, the Eagle ended up fighting Galactor goons in the dubious cover of the molds. It certainly did not help any that, for once, those green-clad heavies used their heads, getting huge sledgehammers and standing before each hole in the hope of braining him. In the next trying minutes, Ken would pop out of the molds like a Jack-in the-Box and use his bird rang to knock out the goons waiting for him at a nearby hole and then duck back down before a sledgehammer could connect with his cranium. He would then crawl into an adjoining pipe and repeat the procedure all over again. It did not escape the Eagle's notice that his predicament reminded him of a popular arcade game, and he didn't like the feeling of being the targeted mole.

At one point, Ken was forced to emerge when he heard Joe cry out in horror, "OH MY GOD!" fearing that the Condor had been injured. What he beheld, however, was Joe, with hands over his eyes, running – not from a Galactor thug, although he barreled into anyone who dared get in his way – but a furious Jun.

"MY EYES! THE HORRIBLE VISION SEARED MY EYES!"

"I'LL KILL YOU, CONDOR! I SWEAR IF I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOU'RE DEAD!"

Nambu's mouth was a tight, quivering line of controlled mirth, as he listened to the Eagle's narrative. "Then? What happened next?"

This was the part Ken dreaded to tell the most. Reluctantly, he continued, "As I said, we were fighting – if you could actually call that travesty 'fighting', when the sound of laughter stopped us. Even the Galactor goons ceased their attacks. It turned out to be Berg Katse. He was on the scaffold, rolling to and fro, busting his guts out from laughing. Somehow, he got a hold of himself and ordered his men to retreat, but before he escaped, he said…"

The Eagle stopped at that point, his cheeks burning with embarrassment. He wouldn't have finished what he was going to say, but then, the communications monitor flickered to life to reveal Berg Katse's grinning face.

"Nambu-Hakase!" Katse greeted the ISO administrator. It was all too obvious that the Galactor leader was in exceptionally good spirits. "Please convey this message to Gatchaman for me. I never thought I'd be so happy to lose, but this time, I truly am. Thanks to the Kagaku Ninjatai, I've rediscovered my lost childhood. I've completely forgotten how fun it was to play 'Whack-The-Mole', so my scientists have developed a different version of the game called 'Bash-The-Gatchaman' for my amusement. Even the great Sosai X is so entertained. I do hope we could play another game next time. Oh, and please give my regards to the Condor. I sincerely hope his poor eyes have recovered from the ghastly thing he had seen under the mini-skirt of Shiratori No Jun. 'Til we meet again…Ta ta!"

As the monitor grew dark, silence fell between the scientist and his ward. In an effort to ease the shame that was eating at the Eagle, Nambu gingerly pointed out, "Well, at least you succeeded in your mission."

The doctor jerked back as Ken slammed his hands on Nambu's desk with a bang. "Tell me the truth, Hakase! What's wrong with Joe? Has he gone mad? Doesn't he need to be in a hospital? Is he going to get better?"

Nambu looked the Eagle straight in the eye. "Are you really that worried about him? I thought you were more concerned about the embarrassment that he had caused you."

"Of course I'm worried! I couldn't care less if Katse is getting his kicks bashing the head of a plastic version of myself with a mallet. But Joe… Wouldn't you be worried if you see the person you care for about to fall off the deep end, and you're powerless to do anything about it?" Ken bowed his head, his eyes squeezed shut, and his hands closed into fists. "The Condor we have now… He isn't the Joe I knew!"

"How sure are you that this is the Joe you never knew existed?"

Ken's head snapped up at that quiet query, his eyes round with shock.

Nambu breathed out a sigh. "It's very obvious to me that your feelings for Joe go beyond simple caring." The Eagle was about to contradict him, but the doctor halted him with a raise of his hand. "There's no point in denying it. Besides, I've long been waiting for you to find someone you would give your heart to. It did not feel right to me that you've been sacrificing potential relationships for the sake of duty. For a while there, I thought it would be Jun. But after ten years, I realized…it has always been Joe, wasn't it?"

"Do you detest me for choosing to love another man, Hakase?"

"Any good reason why I should? You are still the boy I loved and raised as though you were my own son. What does concern me is how far you're willing to go for this relationship to flourish?"

"I don't understand," Ken remarked frowning.

"Dr. Trieste did a complete battery of exams on Joe," Nambu revealed to the Eagle. "For all intents and purposes, he is fine. Except for the concussion, he did not suffer any serious brain damage. EEGs, brain scans, even tests on his neural transmissions…everything inside his head is in perfect working order. The Joe Asakura you are interacting with now is a perfectly sane man."

"Then, what's wrong with him?"

"We interviewed Ryu and Jinpei about what happened in the observation deck that day. It seems that before he got his face bashed in by Jun, Joe was intensely fixated on two things…birdstyles and you."

"ME?"

Nambu nodded. "In fact, Ryu swore that the Condor was looking at you as you moved in your birdstyle while you were undergoing the training exercise. Jinpei even went so far as to say that Joe was…in his very terms…'lusting over you'."

"Lusting, huh?" Ken laughed wryly. "You know that Jinpei's observations tend to run towards exaggerations."

"But what if he's right this time? I've been observing Joe myself these past few days and, although his thoughts and actions might label him as insane, there is a motive behind them – something which he may not be able to do if he were his 'usual' self."

"Which is?"

"For him to be able to shower – albeit indirectly – his affections towards you."

There was a poleaxed expression on Ken's face. "Are you saying that Joe is in love with me?"

Nambu shrugged. "Well, perhaps not you exactly, but the image of you as Owashi No Ken. Handsome and sweet, the always prim and proper Eagle Scout, and – I dare say it – the angelic virgin, whose pristine virtue he must protect at all costs, even from himself."

"But…but…I'M NOT!" Ken sputtered aghast.

"Are you going to tell me you're not a virgin?" Nambu growled at the younger man. "Is there something I don't know about? I hope you remembered what I taught you about practicing safe sex."

Ken blushed hotly at those queries. "Of course I'm still a virgin!But…but…" The Eagle felt his knees weakening and he sagged into a chair before he could collapse at the weight of what he was learning about his teammate. "Then, the reason why he's so fixated on birdstyles is because he finds me attractive in them and that he wants to…" His blue eyes flew wide as a steamy thought crossed his mind, and he clapped his hands to his cheeks before his foster father could see how deep a red the color of his cheeks had become.

"Sex is just a part of what he wants to do with you," the doctor put in frankly. "However, you know that he has a reputation for being a playboy. I think there is a part of him that is afraid that you might reject him for his past flings…"

"Why would I do that?"

"…And the fact that he does not know where your true sexual leanings lie. Think about it, Ken. After so many years of playing straight, do you think it would be easy for Joe to woo another man, especially if he believes that man to be just as straight as he is, perhaps even more?"

Before the Eagle could interject, the subject of their discussion entered the office, bearing a portfolio in his hand. Seeing the startled looks on their faces, Joe said defensively, "I buzzed but there was no answer, so I decided to come in. I'm not disturbing you, am I?"

"Oh, no, no!" Nambu quickly reassured the Condor. "Ken and I were just discussing the concluded mission."

Joe's face soured at that answer. "Hakase, please don't be mad at Ken. I was the one who messed up. I swear it won't happen again."

"As long as you were able to accomplish your mission, that's enough for me. Now, is there anything you would like to talk to me about?"

Ken stood at attention. "I shall be going then, sir."

"No, Ken, please stay," Joe begged the Eagle. "There's something I wanted to show the both of you."

As the Condor opened his portfolio on Nambu's desk, the doctor pushed his glasses up his nose and asked, "And what's this?"

"Designs for new uniforms. I was hoping you'd take a look at them."

Despite his apprehensions of what the products of Joe's unstable mind would look like, Ken found himself actually floored by the Condor's designs.

Joe decided to outfit the team as real bird people – complete with feathers in the colors of the birds that they represented, intricate helmets, and functional sets of wings (instead of the usual capes), including the schematics for them.

For the individual outfits, Joe carefully tailored them to suit each member. Ryu's uniform had been transformed into a Robin Hood-style outfit. Instead of making the top a close fit to the body, he chose a loose, streamlined brown tunic cinched at the waist by a narrow belt so that the Owl's flabs wouldn't be too apparent. For Jinpei, he created a yellow and brown ensemble, which would make him look like Peter Pan. Ken was not sure if Jun would be pleased with the proposed design for her uniform though. Joe had actually gone through several versions – judging from the doodles all over the page that have been crossed out with a red marker – before settling on a fairy-style white and pink dress. He had been considerate enough to make the skirt as short as her original costume's, but underneath it were very short shorts with ruffles, which were apparently intended to distract the eye from peeping even lower. Joe outfitted himself with the dark reddish brown colors of his avian namesake, but same as Ryu's decided to go for a streamlined top. With those black wings, Joe was the very image of a Dark Angel.

Nambu, who was perusing each illustration with undisguised appreciation, handed the last sketch to Ken. "I think you'd better take a look at this." The Eagle did not like the crooked smile that curled up on the doctor's mouth.

Taking the offered sketch, Ken's jaw dropped instantly. If the Condor was the Dark Angel, Ken was transformed into an Angel of Light. Instead of dressing the Eagle up in the flowing white robes of the western angels, Joe decided to go with an oriental look in keeping with Ken's Japanese heritage – a white tunic, a gold breastplate with their insignia emblazoned in crimson in the center, sky blue pantaloons, and ankle-high boots.

Rather than be flattered by the lavish attention that his teammate paid to the design, Ken could not help but feel dismayed, seeing Joe's idealized version of the Eagle put to paper.

Unaware of his leader's growing distress, Joe asked anxiously, "Well? What do you think? Do you like it?" His gray blue eyes twinkled with excitement, anticipating the Eagle's approval.

Ken carefully put the sketch down together with the rest and said bluntly, "No, I don't. I'm sorry." With a bow to Nambu, he headed straight for the door, only to find his way suddenly blocked by the Condor.

 

To say that Joe had labored over the uniform designs was an understatement. Prompted by his increasing agitation over the birdstyles, he had slaved over the sketches during the hours before they embarked on the mission to Maharlika. On the trip back, he put the finishing touches while the others were napping.

It was a monumental task for someone who had no talent in art, much more fashion design, but somehow, Joe had managed to come up with some very striking illustrations, even if he drew them while experiencing a splitting headache – a common occurrence of late – which made his eyes want to pop out. It was while he was drawing the Eagle's uniform that the headache hit hardest, and yet, despite it, he took exceptional care to come up with a design that he was sure Ken would love and approve of.

So when the Eagle flatly rejected the sketch he took great pains to make, it felt like a bullet through this heart.

His temper getting the better of him, Joe overtook his teammate before he could reach the door and seized him by the front of his shirt. "Why? What's wrong with it?" he demanded. "Do you have any idea how long it took for me to make that?"

Ken met his fiery gaze with a glare of such iciness that made Joe wince in pain. "That uniform you designed for me…that sketch…it's not me."

"What are you saying? That uniform was meant for you to wear. I swear you'll look wonderful in it." Releasing his friend, the Condor reached for the sketch with trembling hands. His voice shook as he said cajolingly, "Why don't you look at it again and imagine yourself wearing it? It's perfect for you, Ken. You'll look just like an angel. Not like when you're wearing birdstyle…"

"And what do I look like when I'm wearing birdstyle? I'd like to hear you say it right in my face, Condor."

"But, Ken…I…"

With a sarcastic laugh, Ken exclaimed, "Oh, I forgot! I'm wearing my civvies. Give me a second…BIRD GO!"

Joe turned around and flung his right arm over his face, not to shield his eyes from the glaring flash of the transmutation process. He did not want to see…

"TURN AROUND AND FACE ME, DAMN IT!"

A strong hand grabbed his left arm and wrenched him around in order to behold Ken now dressed as his alter ego, Gatchaman.

"Now, speak up, Condor! What do I look like when I'm wearing this?"

_No!_ The word spilled out of Joe's lips as an aching groan. Although his head was splitting from the shining vision of the Eagle, the insistent throbbing in his loins agonized him more. Ashamed that his body would betray his lust, Joe took a step back to hide the erection straining in his jeans. But Ken only moved closer to him.

"I'm waiting, Joe!" Ken snarled in fury.

"Naked…you look…naked…" Joe's words were an incoherent mumble.

"JOE!"

The Condor broke down completely as he shouted back, "YOU LOOK LIKE A MAN-WHORE! THERE! I SAID IT! ARE YOU SATISFIED NOW?"

Joe's legs buckled from the pressure and he fell to his knees. His voice choked with emotion, the Condor sobbed, "This isn't you, Ken! I don't like it when you're dressed like this! Everyone looking at you…so dirty! As if they want to…possess…you!"

" 'Possess'? Don't you mean they want to FUCK me?" That filthy word was like a sliver of ice driven through Joe's heart. Yet, Ken had not finished his onslaught. "What if I tell you that I love it when people look at me as though I'm a sex object – to feel those eyes searing my body like a laser beam. That's why I'm really disappointed when…SOMEONE…only sees me as Gatchaman. Beneath this uniform is a man with desperate needs and desires who would do anything…EVERYTHING…to fulfill them. If that…PERSON…would only find the courage…"

"NO!" Joe shook his head stubbornly. With an anguished cry, he gripped Ken's shoulders hard, his eyes squeezed tightly shut to stop himself from weeping. "I would kill anyone who'd dare sully you…my precious angel…"

Then, gentle hands cupped his face, and the Condor opened his eyes to find the Eagle with tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Oh, Joe! I'm no angel!" Ken said bitterly. "How can I make you look beyond this heroic façade and see the person who I truly am?"

Without saying anything more, the Eagle walked out of Nambu's office and closed the door behind him.

 

Nambu was stricken to silence by the drama that had just occurred in his presence. There wasn't any doubt that Ken was hurt by Joe's denseness, but the Condor too was in greater pain at his inability and fear to confess what was truly inside his heart. Offering comforting advice was not in his capacity to give. He never considered himself an expert in the affairs of the heart after all.

But there was one thing he could do as the ISO's Administrator and Chief Scientist.

Pulling open his drawer, Nambu took out a slim rectangular box, which he laid on top of his desk. He cleared his throat to catch the attention of the Condor. For a moment, he could not speak as he saw the misery in Joe's eyes.

Regaining his professional composure, Nambu began, "I'm not supposed to give this to anyone, but since you're so desperate about seeking approval for your uniform designs, I thought I'd let you give this…" He waved a hand to the box. "…A test run."

Wiping away the tears that were filling his eyes, Joe picked it up and flipped open the lid to find a bracelet similar to what he was wearing now, except that the face was titanium and its band was dark red.

"What is this?" the Condor asked curiously. "A new transmutation bracelet?"

Nambu nodded. "I've been working out the kinks in that little trinket. You see, after the problem we had with Jun's missing shoe, I became concerned about the imminent danger of Galactor learning your true identity.So I thought of designing a new bracelet for the team."

Joe carefully picked up the bracelet from its box and dangled it before his eyes. "How does this thing work?"

"That new bracelet works in the same way as your team bracelets do. The difference is this particular trinket is highly attuned to the brain waves of its wearer. It has the capability to change your civvies into any type of clothing you choose. All you need to do is to have a very clear picture of the clothes you'd like to wear inside your head for the bracelet to work. Because that bracelet is the prototype, it's powerful enough to transform even the clothes of your teammates. To activate, instead of saying 'BIRD GO!' you just say the designated avian codename of your teammate. For example, 'OWL GO!' or 'SWALLOW GO!'"

There was an unnatural gleam in the Condor's eyes at this explanation. "You mean…"

"Yes, you could use that to show off your new uniform designs to Ken and the others. Of course, there are some limitations to its use. I'm not sure if the amount of special fiber in your present civvies would be enough to accommodate the designs you have made, but I think it's still worth trying out. This is the only way I could think of to help you…especially as far as Ken is concerned. If you can convince him, it won't be difficult to convince the others."

Joe beamed as he took off his bracelet and put on his wrist, in its stead, the prototype – a bit too eagerly it seemed to the good doctor. "Thank you, Nambu-Hakase. I really appreciate this. If you wish, I'd be happy to submit a report on how well it works."

"Yes, a report would be fine. You're free to make modifications to the bracelet based on your observations." The Condor was about to leave, but Nambu called out to him. "Joe, wait."

"Sir?"

"It would also help if you…meditated…a bit on the things that Ken told you. Maybe try to understand what he's been struggling to say."

Joe made a pained shrug. "Yes, sir, although I must admit that thinking has been quite taxing for me lately. All these headaches…"

Nambu tossed him a bottle of anxiolytics, which the Condor easily caught in his right hand. "Take two of those pain relievers in the morning and before going to bed," the doctor lied under his teeth. Dr. Trieste had specially formulated those drugs to help clear Joe's head. "It will help get rid of those headaches."

"Thank you very much, sir!" Joe said in gratitude, a devilish grin on his face. The sight of that grin made the doctor wonder if he hadn't made a terrible mistake entrusting the prototype to the still mentally unstable Condor.

As soon as Joe left his office, Nambu sagged into his chair and sighed. "I really should get extra pay for being a counselor to love struck teenaged superheroes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRANSLATION
> 
> 1\. Italian: "Giù le mani dal mio culo!" = "Hands off my butt!"  
> 2\. Italian: "Lasciami in pace!" = "Leave me alone!"  
> 3\. Italian: "Se ne vada!" = "Go away!"  
> 4\. Italian: "Grazie." = "Thank you."  
> 5\. Italian: "Scusatemi." = "I'm sorry."


	3. Chapter 3

 

**PART THREE**

 

As most science-fiction stories go, monsters are born from the best intentions of the scientists who create them.

Unknown to Nambu-Hakase, one such menace was being born in a decrepit trailer parked in a clearing in a small forest. Inside, someone shouted, "CONDOR GO!" The trailer began shaking, rainbow-colored lights flashing through the windows. Just as suddenly as the disturbance began, the shaking and the lights died down as if nothing had happened. For a few minutes, silence descended upon the clearing.

Then, there was a horrified shriek, and Joe stumbled out of his trailer and rushed to the nearby creek, puking his guts out. He flinched at the sight of his reflection in the water. Joe was dressed in a tacky blue shirt, with white piping at the hems of the sleeves, tucked into white pants; a red ribbon was tied around his neck. His nape-length brown locks was slicked back into a circa Sixties-style haircut.

"Damn it! Wrong anime!" The Condor cursed under his breath. "I look like that speed freak, Go Mifune!"

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Joe marched back inside his trailer with even greater determination than he had when Nambu first gave him the new bracelet.

"Back to the drawing board."

 

Days later, work went on as usual at Crescent Coral. The ISO staff continued with their regular routine, unaware of the threat – far greater than Galactor – that was walking in their midst with a leather-bound notebook in hand. Much like the evil Berg Katse, his target was the Kagaku Ninjatai.

The menace first made his presence felt in the hangar where the God Phoenix was docked. Hiding inside the cockpit, an unsuspecting Ryu – having just undergone an exhausting weight reduction program under the ISO's trainer – was pigging out on three enormous bento of goodies, regaining the measly pound he had lost earlier and adding several more.

"OWL GO!"

Ryu almost choked on the ebi fry he was eating as the aura of transmutation enveloped him.

"What the…" The Owl shook his bracelet. "Hey! Stop! What's going on?"

At that moment, Ken and Jinpei were climbing into the God Phoenix. The Eagle had promised his diminutive teammate that he would help him make repairs on his Helico Buggy.

As they entered the cockpit, their eyes flew wide as they beheld Ryu in what appeared to be brown monk's robes, but the hem only fell up to his thighs, thanks to the extra pounds he had gained.

Jinpei roared with laughter at the sight of the Owl's ridiculous appearance. "What's with the get-up, Ryu? Is that a muumuu or are you trying to make yourself out to be Friar Tuck in a mini?"

"Shut up, Jinpei!" Ryu said hotly. "I don't know what happened! I just found myself transforming, and my clothes changed into this ugly thing! Jeez, I look like my Mom in her house dress!"

"Don't worry! It suits you!"

"Why you… Come here, you runt!"

As Ryu started throttling Jinpei, Ken remained silent, a frown of suspicion darkening his handsome face. Instead of adding to the Owl's distress, he looked out the viewing screen just in time to see a familiar figure sauntering out of the hangar.

Unaware that he had been seen by the Eagle, Joe jotted down in his notebook, "The Owl – Failure. Make adjustments for extra poundage due to overeating."

 

Jinpei did not have anything to laugh about when, two days after the Ryu incident, he became the next target for the Condor's fiendish experiments.

The Swallow was helping out at the Snack J, preparing for a dance party that was going to be held at the bar that evening. Pushy minx that she was, Jun had also cornered Ken, who was promptly put to work fixing the beer dispenser in order for him to pay off even a fraction of his mile-long tab.

Not surprisingly, just like any boy his age, Jinpei soon found the endless cleaning and dishwashing boring. He sidled over to the Eagle, who was throwing bird rangs at the broken tap with his big blue eyes.

"Aniki…"

"What?"

"Jun's in the back."

"Yeah, so?"

Jinpei cast a look of intense longing at the beer tap, the tip of his tongue protruding from the corner of his mouth.

"No!" Ken snapped at the boy. "Absolutely not!"

"Aniki, come on! Just a little taste!"

"And have you turn into a pint-sized lush? Forget it!"

"But…but…you and Joe have been drinking beer since you were sixteen."

"Go check your birth certificate. You still have six years to go before you even hit sixteen. Besides, we weren't drinking beer back then, idiot! That was lemonade."

Jinpei scowled darkly at the Eagle. "I've never seen frothy lemonade before."

"You're not having any, and that's that!" Ken reached out his hand to the Swallow, palm up. "Wrench!"

"Che! Stingy!" Jinpei grumbled as he slapped the wrench into Ken's hand.

"SWALLOW GO!"

"Did you say something, Jinpei?" the Eagle asked, his attention still focused on what he was repairing.

Ken was only going to give the broken nozzle a tap with the wrench, when Jinpei suddenly cried out in alarm. The wrench came down with a loud clang, breaking the tap and sending streams of golden brew splashing all over the Eagle's face and body. Sputtering, Ken hastened to shut off the valve from the keg, so that he did not witness Jinpei's startling transformation. When he finally got the tap closed, he was jolted by an anguished wail from the Swallow.

Jun came running from the kitchen. "What's all this racket? Oh my god! JINPEI!"

Ken found his jaw dropping at the comical sight of Jinpei dressed from head to toe as the cartoon character, Tweety.

"Jun, get me out of this thing!" the Swallow cried, flapping the tiny wings in disgust. "It's so uncool! If any of my friends see me in this, I'll be the laughing stock of the neighborhood!"

"What happened?" the Swan glared at Ken, who was soaked to the skin with beer. "You're not drunk, are you? Surely you didn't dress Jinpei up in this ridiculous costume for kicks!"

"Of course not!" the Eagle exclaimed defensively. "I had an accident with the beer tap and…"

"It's this damned bracelet! It turned me into Tweety!" the Swallow interjected, his lanky body heaving with the force of his sobs. "That effeminate freakazoid Berg Katse is behind this! I'm sure of it! He wants me to look like an idiot!"

A couple chose that moment to enter the bar in the hopes of buying a few drinks. But when their eyes fell upon Jinpei, they turned on their heels and stammered in apology, "Sorry. We didn't know this was a kids' hangout."

That only caused the Swallow to burst into more tears. "WAAAAH! MY HAPPY CHILDHOOD IS RUINED!"

Ken was about to comfort the weeping boy when his eye caught Joe standing outside the window of the Snack J. His brows were knitted together in a frown as his finger pinched the point between his eyes. Leaping over the counter, Ken hurried to the door, but when he ran into the street, the Condor had disappeared.

Joe was not too far away though. He was leaning against a stack of crates in the alley behind the bar, writing his observations down in his trusty notebook.

"The Swallow – another failure," he muttered with a heavy sigh. "Note to self: Don't watch any cartoons before attempting a transmutation."

 

No matter how he looked at it, Ken could not dismiss as mere coincidence Joe's presence at the times those mysterious transmutations occurred. There was also the matter that the funny robes Ryu's clothes changed into partly resembled the tunic in the Condor's design. As for Jinpei, the Owl recounted Joe's tirade at the observation deck, in particular how the Condor had remarked about the boy's resemblance to Tweety when dressed in his birdstyle. All the signs pointed without a doubt to Joe, and Ken did not have to guess who his next victim would be.

Unfortunately, Jun had also arrived at the same conclusion, and had decided to make things easier for Joe by confronting him directly.

Hearing from Jinpei that his sister was on a rampage, Ken ran off to find her. He finally located the Swan in the docking bay where the G-2 was being overhauled.

"Now where did that son of a bitch go?" Jun searched through every nook and cranny of the cluttered garage. "I figured he'd be here tinkering with his car. They're practically attached at the navel!"

"Jun, why don't you calm down?" Ken begged his pretty teammate. "You know that Joe is still suffering from the effects of his head injury…which you caused, mind you."

"Well, he deserved it!"

"Listen! Let me talk to Joe. I'm sure I can make him stop doing these things."

"What? And deprive me of the opportunity to give him a piece of my mind and another taste of my fist? I think not!"

Unbeknownst to his teammates, Joe was hiding in the wall vent just above their heads, forewarned by the heavy stomping of Jun's heels in the corridor outside the docking bay.

Joe grimaced in pain, pressing his temples with his fingertips. "What a noisy broad! Her voice has the same effect as Galactor's brain scrambling beam!"

"Please, Jun!" the Eagle pleaded with the Swan in earnest. "Surely you're not thinking of inflicting violence upon a sick man!"

But Jun would not be placated. "Oh, he's a sicko, all right! You know? Instead of punching him, I think I'd give him one of my patented kicks in the kisser…after he gets an eyeful of my crotch!" With arms akimbo, the Swan burst into evil laughter.

Listening from his hiding place, Joe shuddered as that disgusting image filled his aching head. However, the Condor's capacity for devilish tricks far surpassed Jun's…and he had the perfect tool to do it with.

"So…" Joe muttered fiendishly. "You're planning to subject me to more sickening views of your nether Afro, huh? Let's put you in the proper attire for it then. SWAN GO!"

Ken heard those two words uttered from inside the vent. Before he could expose the Condor's hiding place, Jun let out a deafening shriek.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" the Swan cried in outrage, seeing her clothes transformed into the raiment of anime character, Princess Sapphire. "This can't be trunk hose? No, but it is! AARRRGGH! NOT PUMPKIN PANTS!"

"Don't like that?" Joe cackled through the slats of the vent. "Okay! Here's my personal favorite – the Tinker Bell look!"

Jun watched in horror as the costume changed into a gossamer white and pink dress. But the worst part of her ensemble was the ruffled panties she was wearing.

The Eagle tore the grate from its moorings and yanked Joe out of the vent. Shaking the Condor hard by the front of his shirt, Ken shouted, "NO MORE GAMES, JOE! STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!"

But Joe stubbornly yelled back, "Do you think this is just a game for me? NO, I WON'T STOP! NOT UNTIL YOU APPROVE OF MY NEW UNIFORM DESIGNS AND GET RID OF THOSE BIRDSTYLES FOR GOOD!"

Humiliated and enraged, Jun could no longer hold back. Swinging her leg back for a devastating kick, she roared, "JOE ASAKURA…I HATE YOU!"

In her haste to get even with her tormentor, the Swan miscalculated where her kick was going to land. As Joe watched that foot arching towards them, he realized that it was going to connect with the side of Ken's head!

"KEN! WATCH OUT!" the Condor cried out as he wrenched a startled Eagle behind him.

In a ghastly slow motion, Ken watched in horror as Jun's foot struck Joe's head, sending the Condor falling like a graceful feather. But what registered the most to his shocked mind was the sound – the hollow cracking of a skull, much like a coconut being split open. Before the Condor could fall at his feet, Ken regained enough sense to catch him in his arms.

Cradling Joe's head, Ken called out to him, "Joe? JOE! Come on! Wake up! Please, Joe! Open your eyes!" But the Condor did not stir.

As tears of frustration started to pour from his eyes, the Eagle turned to Jun, who was frozen where she stood.

"What are you gawking around for?" Ken yelled at her. "Get Dr. Trieste here now!"

That shout jolted the Swan back to reality. "Uh…yeah, right…I'll call her right now!"

While Jun was making the call over the comlink, Ken pulled Joe into his embrace, his lips brushing against the darkening bruise on his temple.

"Condor…Joe…" Ken's voice was a harsh whisper. "Please go back to being the real you! I don't like to see you acting this way! Please, Joe! Please come back to me!"

 

The eight hours that the Kagaku Ninjatai waited for news about the Condor's condition where the most nerve-wracking they have experienced in their young lives.

Nambu-Hakase chose not to berate Jun for her latest infraction. Anyone could see how much she was being torn by guilt for what she had done. To while the time, Jinpei and Ryu talked about the ridiculous costumes their civvies transformed into, wondering how Joe had accomplished such a feat. They even began discussing the possibilities of changing their clothes into more outlandish outfits – an irony, considering the fact that, prior to the mishap, they were contemplating roasting the Condor over a spit complete with trimmings.

The one worst affected was Ken. The Eagle distanced himself from his teammates, sitting on a bench all by his lonesome at the far end of the corridor. His bloodshot eyes were devoid of emotion, staring blankly at the wall, refusing to steal even a glance at the swinging doors of the Emergency Room. Even when Dr. Trieste at last emerged with the good news that Joe was going to be all right and that Jun had not cracked his skull, the Eagle remained motionless, as if the whole world had crumbled when the Condor fell unconscious in his arms.

Nambu approached his young ward and laid a hand on his shoulder. Only then did Ken look up, the expression on his face showing his expectation of the worst.

"Joe's going to be fine, Ken," Nambu told the Eagle.

At those words, Ken's tense form relaxed as he released a relieved exhalation. Even then, he cupped his face in his hands to stem the flow of tears.

Rubbing the Eagle's back soothingly, the doctor continued, "But…I think it would be better if he recuperated in my private rest house. What do you say, Ken? Think you're up to playing nursemaid for a few days?"

"Hakase…" Jun interrupted. "…We'd like to go too and help out."

"No, not this time."

The Swan was crestfallen at that answer. "I guess you still don't trust me. I understand. But I swear I won't cause any more trouble! I…I just want to make it up to Joe."

Nambu shook his head. "It's not that, Jun."

"Joe's our teammate," Jinpei insisted. "It's important that we stick together."

"Nambu-Hakase, didn't you yourself tell us that we have to look out for each other?" Ryu pointed out to him.

"True, but this is a totally different situation," Nambu tried to explain patiently. "Joe has been under considerable mental stress. You have to admit that as a result of this, your relationship has been strained. A team cannot function properly if there is no trust among its members. That's why I prefer Joe to be with the one person he still trusts, and that's Ken."

Ken got to his feet, his determined stance mirroring his acceptance of the duty that was given to him. "When do we leave, sir?"

The good doctor smiled at that question. "I had anticipated that you would take this responsibility upon yourself. Right now, I'm having Joe brought down to the helicopter via the med lift. But I could give you enough time to pack a few things."

"There's no need, sir," the Eagle reassured him. "I left some of my clothes at the rest house the last time we went there on break."

Nambu nodded in approval. "Then, there's no need to delay our departure. I'll be accompanying you. I want to be sure that you two are settled in before I return to base."

After a few minutes, they arrived at the heliport. Joe was already laid out comfortably on a gurney inside the helicopter. As Nambu got in front with the pilot, Ken stayed in the back with the Condor, taking the seat opposite the gurney.

"Aniki, just call us if you need any help, okay?" Jinpei ordered the Eagle sternly.

"You two take it easy while you're there," Ryu advised him. Pounding a fist to his chest, he added, "And don't you worry about a thing. We'll hold the fort while you're gone."

"If Galactor should attack at any time…" the Eagle began, "…Use the Bird Scramble. I don't want you going off on dangerous missions without me."

"Yes, we'll do that. Ken…" Jun began hesitantly. "…When Joe wakes up, please tell him I'm really sorry."

"I'll tell him, Jun. I promise." He gave his teammates a reassuring smile. "Things are going to be all right, guys. I won't let anything happen to Joe. You'll see. He'll be the same old Condor when we get back."

"Uhh…maybe you could also tell Joe to chill out a bit?" Jinpei put in. He aped the dark scowl that was a perpetual feature on the Condor's brow. "He's only eighteen and he's already got wrinkles!"

At that description, the tension that was bottled up inside Ken's heart was released as peals of pure laughter. "Yes, Jinpei. I'll do that." He waved to his friends. "We'll be back soon."

The helicopter door was then closed and they took off. Through the window, Ken saw his teammates waving to them until they disappeared from view as the helicopter flew in the direction of Utoland.

The helicopter hit a spot of air turbulence, and Joe let out a moan as his injured head was jostled.

Ken took the Condor's hand. "Joe? It's me – Ken. Do you want me to get you anything? Some water?"

"No," Joe groaned. "Head…hurts…too bumpy…"

Seeing that the small pillow was not enough to cushion his head, Ken scooted over to the gurney. Lifting Joe a bit, he removed the pillow and gently laid the Condor back down on his lap. Joe carefully curled up on his side, placing his right hand on the Eagle's thigh. As a small smile of contentment formed on his lips, to Ken's amusement, the Condor started purring.

"What are you – a cat?" the Eagle exclaimed with a laugh.

"Mew!" was Joe's soft reply.

Ken ran his fingers through the Condor's brown locks that were spiking up on top of his head because of the bandages. "You're one big baby, you know that, Joe?"

Nambu had been watching their exchange, touched by the poignancy of the scene. He settled back into his seat and smiled. _It's so wonderful to be young and in love!_


	4. Chapter 4

 

**PART FOUR**

 

"Whew! Right in the nick of time!"

Ken closed the door of the rest house, just as the rain began to fall. He had been in the forest, checking out his snares for any game it had caught. By the time he reached his last snare – which, to his delight, had trapped a young wild turkey, dark clouds were building up in the sky overhead. Slaughtering and cleaning the vicious bird right then and there, the Eagle hurried home, pausing briefly along the way to pick up a nest of quail eggs. He first took his prized catches to the kitchen before going to the upstairs bedroom to check on his patient. To his relief, Joe was sleeping soundly in bed. Rather than announce his return, he went back down to prepare supper.

It has been a week since Nambu-Hakase left them, seven days that were both a joy and a trial for the Eagle.

Ever since he was a child, Ken loved the beauty and peace that the wilderness surrounding the rest house accorded him. It also brought back fond memories of when he and Joe would play in the woods or clamber down the rocky cliffs to gaze at the churning sea foam. They were always getting into all sorts of crazy adventures that either led to trouble or fisticuffs, causing poor Nambu to develop a few premature gray hairs.

As Ken chopped up the turkey and dumped it into the pot, along with some vegetables and spices, he couldn't help but muse wryly that it had always been his fondest wish to be able to confess his true feelings to the Condor in this beautiful place.

The circumstances they were in, however, made any notion of romance an impossibility.

Joe was recovering, true. But it was a gradual, frustrating process, especially for his patient. His recent head trauma left him feeling weak and with poor muscle coordination that Ken had to give him therapeutic massages and put him through rehabilitation exercises. If this wasn't distressing enough, he was prone to episodes of dizziness and headaches. Visions of flashing lights – a symptom he exhibited during the Marine Satan incident – became a regular occurrence, especially whenever the Condor was feeling stressed out.

Ken has one consolation though. Not once has Joe complained or brought up the issue about their birdstyles.

Leaving the pot to simmer over the fire, Ken brought a bed tray – laden with a bowl of turkey stew, rice, six shelled, hardboiled quail eggs and a tall glass of milk – to the bedroom. Joe was lying on his side, but the Eagle sensed that he was already awake. Sure enough, the Condor's shoulders jerked as thunder boomed outside the window. Placing the tray on the bedside table, he peeled back the covers and gently nudged his patient.

"Come on, Joe. I know you're awake," Ken poked him repeatedly in the side, causing Joe to squirm. "Dinner is served."

The Condor's eyelids twitched. One bleary gray eye opened followed by the other. Propping the pillow against the headboard, Ken eased Joe – whose mouth was stretched wide in an exaggerated yawn – to a sitting position and placed the bed tray before him. Joe glowered at the Eagle who tucked a napkin under his chin.

"Say 'Aah!" Ken said playfully as he offered a spoonful of stew.

The Condor's mouth formed a tight, grim line, refusing the spoon entry. "Not…baby! Can feed…myself!"

"Oh really?" Ken's eyebrows rose at that declaration of independence. Replacing the spoon in the bowl, he said with a wave of his hand, "Here! Be my guest!"

Frowning with intense concentration, the Condor picked up the spoon, only to have it slip through his feeble grasp and fall on the tray with a clatter.

"Fuck…fingers!" he glared at his uncooperative hand as though it had become the minion of Berg Katse. "Fuck…tongue too! Talk…idiot! Grrrr…"

"That's because you don't drink your meds regularly. If you just take them like Hakase ordered you to, the headaches would disappear and your speech will go back to normal."

Joe stuck out his tongue. "Shitty taste…like battery acid. Only crazy fucks…drink crap pills!"

"Joe, don't be a pain. I brought some milk. Even put in some extra sugar. It'll make the pills less bitter and it will go down easier."

"Milk? Urggh! Not…baby! Beer! Want…beer!"

"Condor…" Ken used his stern Eagle voice. "You know what happens to you whenever you drink anything alcoholic while you're sick. In the condition you're in now, you'll be brain dead."

"Hmmph! Eagle…idiot! Fuck…meds! Give! Beer! Pills! Damn! Shit-!"

Before he could go on a one-syllable cursing spree, Ken quickly shoveled turkey chunks inside Joe's mouth.

Feigning outrage, the Eagle exclaimed, "My, my! What a dirty mouth you have there! Maybe I should wash it out with soap the next time I give you a bath."

"You…love that…baths…" Joe snorted, as he chewed resentfully. "Look like angel…big blue eyes…but really…pervert!"

"Ohh, a pervert, am I? And please do tell me what I did to unman you?"

There was a wicked grin on the Condor's face. "Nothing…yet. But…know…in…pretty head…have…fucking…in mind. Said…before…"

Ken suddenly remembered what Joe was talking about – that embarrassing little speech he made when they argued over the uniform designs in Nambu's office.

"He he he!" The Eagle's face darkened, hearing the staccato of his teammate's chuckles. "Ken…peach cheeks…nope…like cherries…"

"Shut up, you!" Ken popped a quail egg inside the Condor's mouth, but that didn't stop the laughter.

"Ken's eggs…teeny weeny…"

"I BEG YOUR PARDON!"

Joe doubled up then, his body heaving as he laughed, that the irritated Eagle had to lift the bed tray before its contents toppled to the floor.

"Yeah, yeah! Ha ha ha!" Ken said indignantly. "Glad to see you're enjoying yourself at my expense!"

The Condor's laughter subsided to a hiccup. "Sowwy!" he lapsed into charming baby talk. He even held out a quail egg as a peace offering. "Ken…egg?"

Rolling his eyes upwards, Ken exhaled and parted his lips, allowing the Condor to put it daintily inside. To his consternation, he felt a fingertip brush against his lower lip. Joe tried to look innocent as those blue eyes narrowed in a scowl.

"Sometimes, Joe, I think you're doing this deliberately," the Eagle fumed as he sliced up the turkey meat into bite-sized pieces and fed them to Joe, who opened and closed his mouth like an obedient toddler. "Even Jinpei wasn't this much trouble when he was little."

"He was…" Joe countered. "Smacked…baby butt…wet bed…and worse…learned toilet."

"Are you telling me that the reason why Jinpei became toilet trained was because you spanked him?" Ken asked, aghast. "Joe Asakura, you really _are_ a devil!"

"Was…laundry detail…Yuck!" Joe gazed at the Eagle through the veil of his long lashes. "I'm devil…true…but Ken…angel…when not…birdstyle."

Despite himself, Ken found his body stiffening at the mention of their uniform. "Are we back to that again?"

The Condor noticed the change in his friend's demeanor. "Sorry."

"Joe, listen. I'm sorry too for the way I rejected your designs. I know the hard work you put into making them. But the birdstyles are a reflection of who we are. It did not shape me into the man I am now. I'm not an angel, but I am Owashi No Ken, I am Gatchaman – and I am who I am because of people like Nambu, Jun, Jinpei, Ryu, and of course, you. That's the reason why I love wearing my birdstyle, not because it makes me look sexy or something like that. It represents who I am and what I stand for, and it constantly reminds me of my duty to protect the people who stand with me in battle, those whom I love dearly."

There was a moment's silence between them. Seeing the look of contemplation on the Condor's face, Ken hoped he had made his teammate see reason.

"Nice speech," Joe said, nodding gravely. "But… still doesn't…change facts!" He pointed a finger straight at the Eagle. "In birdstyle, Ken…sexpot!"

Ken slapped his hand to his forehead. "Why you…" he began with a growl, then stopped. A sly grin curled up the corners of his mouth as he gave his recalcitrant patient a side-glance.

Joe didn't like the look on the Eagle's face. "Wh…what?"

Ken did not say a word as he picked up the bed tray and placed it on the table. As the Condor eyed him with suspicion, he sat down on the bed with languorous grace and leaned over, propping his left arm on the other side of Joe's body, near his hip.

"Joe?" Ken asked in a hurt tone, letting his full lips tighten in an alluring pout. "Are you saying that you don't find me sexy when I'm dressed like this?"

"Huh? Well…I…errr…hmm…" the Condor was at a loss for words.

Ken tossed his head back seductively and let his wayward chocolate mane tumble over his shoulders in waves. With a flirty bat of his obscenely long eyelashes, the Eagle caught Joe's startled blue gray eyes with his tantalizing sapphire orbs, pressed his fingertips to his lips, and blew him a playful kiss.

"Oh my god! Birdstyle possession!" the Condor gasped in horror, making a small cross with his index fingers to ward off the blue-eyed siren.

"But I'm not wearing my birdstyle, so how could you say that I'm possessed by it?" Ken argued huskily, sliding his body over the Condor's as he inched closer and ever closer to his face. "You wound my heart to the quick, Joe. Tell me. Does this…" He ground his crotch against Joe's. "…Feel small to you?"

Not trusting his voice, Joe shook his head briskly.

Ken let his finger slide across the neckline of his T-shirt from left to right, stretching the fabric, so that the mesmerized Condor could have a glimpse of the pale skin underneath. Was that a tiny pink mole on his right collarbone? And – Blast! – It was heart-shaped too! Joe found himself bewitched by that little mole…until he realized that the deep blue of sapphires had replaced that sweet pink heart.

"Joe…" Ken whined seductively, those moist, soft lips moving with aching slowness to meet the Condor's quivering mouth. "How could you want me as an angel? Pure…sweet…innocent…" Their lips were now only a breath apart. "If I'm an angel…then how can I…do…this?"

Joe did not realize that he had been holding his breath until Ken's lips closed upon his mouth. But as he drew in air, the Eagle pushed two pills – which he had been hiding inside his mouth – between Joe's lips with the tip of his tongue and pinched his nose shut. As Ken released him, reflex made him swallow the hated medications. Without waiting for the Condor to regain his wits, the Eagle pressed the glass of milk into his trembling hands and made him drink it all down in deep gulps.

Ken stuck out his tongue in revulsion. "You're right! It did taste like battery acid. But then again…" He gave his teammate a charming smile. "That wasn't so bad now, was it?"

"KEN WASHIO! YOU'RE NO ANGEL ALL RIGHT, BECAUSE YOU'RE EVIL! THE DEVIL INCARNATE HIMSELF!" Joe sputtered in fury, not realizing that he had lapsed into straight speech. "You almost choked me to death with those fucking pills! Taking advantage of a sick man…I oughtta…"

"Sick? Who? YOU?" the Eagle asked in sarcasm. "I'm amazed by how quickly you regained normal speech! It's either those pills work really fast or you've been stringing me along all this time!"

The Condor flopped back into bed, flinging his arm over his head. "Oh my aching head! Ken, I think I've got a dizzy spell coming on."

"But I just gave you your medicine, didn't I?" Ken picked up the bed tray and marched stiffly towards the door. "Don't worry! You'll survive."

"Ken, you are going to give me a bath, right?" Joe wheedled his teammate. "Those massages of yours work wonders on my weak limbs."

The Eagle paused with at the doorway. "Oh, I think you can manage on your own this time." Ken let out a snort. "Besides, whenever I give you a bath or a therapeutic massage, something does work wonders all right…and it's certainly NOT your limbs."

"But Ken…"

"If you find yourself drowning in the bathtub, just use the Bird Scramble. I'm sure the team back at the base will fly to your rescue."

Without sparing a glimpse at the dismayed Condor, Ken shut the door behind him with a bang.

 

Joe was up to his chin in steaming hot water in the bathtub. Deprived of the tender, loving care of a certain Gatchaman, he was sulking at the same intensity as the foul weather outside. The problem was, no matter how angry he was that Ken abandoned him, he couldn't blame his dutiful leader for doing so.

Ken had been right in accusing him of not taking his medications regularly, but that was before Jun rattled his brains again with a roundhouse kick. It was dumb of Nambu to presume that Joe didn't know that the drugs he had given him were psychiatric medications. Rebelling at the idea at being thought of as a basket case, he only drank the pills during those times he was conducting his experiments with the transmutation bracelet. A clear head, after all, was needed for him to make sharp observations. But following the mishap, he decided to take the awful-tasting drugs on schedule, if only to show to the Eagle what an obedient patient he was.

By the third day of their stay in the rest house, however, Joe began regretting his decision. With his mental faculties back to normal, and his strength coming at a close second, he realized that he had been a lunatic for obsessing over the birdstyles the way he had. He wished he could say he felt remorse for what he did to the rest of his teammates – his opinions of Jun's panties remained as strong as ever. What nagged at his conscience the most was the way he had treated Ken.

Joe gave himself a solid bop on the head with his fist. _Moron__! It wasn't the birdstyles that were the problem, but you! You pinned the blame on your uniforms when you should be berating yourself for lacking the courage to open your heart to Ken! _

He looked wryly at his right hand. "But you knew what you were doing, didn't you? You're one horny hand, squeezing Ken's butt like that before it could even register inside my brain." Delayed mental processes aside, he could still vividly recall how the Eagle's behind had felt like – tight, round and firm as a melon.

"Yep! Absolutely yummy!" mused Joe dreamily.

Yet, in spite of everything that he had said and done, the Eagle was here with him now, practically at his beck and call. No man could ever boast of having THE Gatchaman as his nursemaid. But, selfish bastard that he was, he had to ruin it by pretending that he was still brain addled in order to milk all the attention he could get…perhaps a hell of a lot more than he could handle.

The Condor blushed hotly, remembering the seduction play that Ken had pulled on him. But did he just imagine the love and the desperate need that burned in those pretty blue eyes? And what about all those things that Ken had said to him?

_"I'm really disappointed when…_SOMEONE_…only sees me as Gatchaman. Beneath this uniform is a man with desperate needs and desires who would do anything…EVERYTHING…to fulfill them. If that…_PERSON_…would only find the courage…"_

"My birdstyle constantly reminds me of my duty to protect the people whom I love dearly."

_"I'm no angel, Joe."_

Joe let out a pathetic groan as he sank even deeper into the tub. "You really are an idiot, Joe Asakura. For a reputed playboy, you should've seen the signs. Ken was dropping hints all over the place, and what did you choose to focus on? His damned uniform!"

With a grunt, the Condor hefted himself out of the tub. What was the point in berating himself over past mistakes, and shriveling up like a prune in the process? It's still not too late. Why not try to salvage what he could from their pitiful excuse of a wannabe romantic relationship?

Drying himself up briskly, Joe wrapped the towel around his waist and went into the bedroom, his gray blue eyes falling upon the green door near his clothes hamper. That door led to Ken's room – an addition that Nambu-Hakase had built to prevent two mischievous little boys from falling down the stairs as they sneak into each other's rooms at night. Inside, the Condor could hear the soft padding of Ken's bare feet. Going towards the door, he lifted his hand to knock, but paused when the noises suddenly stopped. Joe's mouth hung open in dismay when the doorknob twitched as the lock was pushed in on the other side.

"If that's the way you want it, fine!" Joe hissed, tossing aside the towel. He jumped angrily into his bed and yanked the covers over his head.

The wall clock ticked away the minutes until it became a half hour, then an hour, and then two hours. But sleep would not come to the Condor.

Pulling down the covers, Joe stared at the ceiling, his face so sour as though he had eaten a bushel of lemons. The blue flashes of lightning on the ceiling reminded him so much of an alluring siren with sapphire eyes.

Well, he mused, he could be discreet when he wanted to. Besides, the rain outside was strong enough to mask any sounds he would make, sooo…

A dreamy smile – no, it was more of a leer than a smile – lighting up his face, Joe let his angsting libido have free rein with his overly fertile imagination. With picture perfect clarity, he envisioned Ken dressed in his birdstyle, sitting at the foot of his bed with his left leg bent under him and his right leg dangling from the side with a booted toe touching the floor. The Eagle removed his helmet and, with a flirty toss of his head, let waves of brown silk fall on his shoulders.

There was a questioning and fretful look in Ken's pretty blue eyes as he pressed a fingertip between his luscious lips.

"Joe? You know I can't be the angel you want me to be," Ken began apprehensively, his voice low and needy. "But are you sure you don't you like me in this? Am I not…appealing…enough for you?"

The Condor's piercing gray eyes were like laser beams that seared every inch of the gorgeous body before him. "I'm sure we could work something out."

At that hopeful answer, Ken gave him a devastatingly sweet smile, and Joe wondered how someone that innocent could exude such raw sensuality.

The tip of a pink tongue traced the Cupid's bow of those full lips. Ken murmured huskily, "Would you like me to show you what I can do, Condor?"

Joe raised his eager arms to his angel…no, HIS Gatchaman.

"EAGLE GO!" he said in heated anticipation, as his dream lover fell into his embrace.

In real time, because it had become a habit for him, the Condor was unaware that he was still wearing around his wrist the prototype of Nambu's new transmutation bracelet.

 

Nothing could be more unromantic than an emotionally upset teenager. When the cause of said emotional distress happened to be sleeping in the adjoining bedroom, sleep deprivation was sure to follow.

Ken lifted his head from the pillow he had plopped face down on. Groaning, he grumbled, "Damn it! Don't tell me I can't sleep because of that…that faker!" Burying his face back down on the pillow to muffle his outraged shriek, he punched the mattress beneath him repeatedly.

The worst part was he couldn't make up his mind WHAT he should be mad about – that Joe pretended to still be an invalid so that he could enjoy the luxury of being babied by Ken or that the Condor did not find him sexually attractive when he was out of his birdstyle.

Seeing that he would not get any sleep without resolving the issue once and for all, Ken bounced off the bed and padded over to the full-length mirror hanging on the wall. He glared critically at the image that was reflected back at him – a handsome albeit grungy-looking young man with unruly chocolate brown hair, dressed in a blue and red team T-shirt with a large number '1' printed in front, this time left hanging free over white bell bottoms. The Eagle moved this way and that, trying to view himself at all possible angles. He even tried bunching his hair up in the semblance of a shorter hairstyle. When that didn't work, he put both comb and brush to those wild tresses, only to have the ends spring up stubbornly like stiff porcupine quills. Managing to get his mane back to the way it was, he faced the mirror again only to jerk back to find Nambu-Hakase's stern figure scowling back at him.

"Now, Ken, I did tell you time and time again to take care of your appearance," Nambu wagged a scolding figure at his young ward. "You look like…"

"A lazy hippie, I know!" the Eagle practically wilted like a wallflower, seeing the fact confirmed by his own two eyes. "But if I change…"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" the doctor snapped back at him. "The birdstyles are only to be used for work!" Nambu's eyes narrowed into ominous slits behind his thick glasses. "Need I remind you of the trouble you caused when we were still testing the prototypes?"

Ken's blue eyes widened in alarm. "No, don't do that! Please!"

Pushing his glasses up his nose, Nambu said bluntly, "We had to push up the speed of the transmutation process to equal that of lightning because of the way your body reacted to it. Our scanners went haywire trying to register the number of fluctuating erogenous zones that were stimulated in your system." Nambu produced a full body scan that was lit up like a Christmas tree with bright red dots. "Surprisingly, based on this readout, you have double the number of erotic zones that Joe has and…"

Ken blew at the mirror to fog out Nambu's image. "Okay! So I'm horny! I don't need you to make a scientific paper out of it!" With an exasperated wave of his hand, he exclaimed, "Ahhh! To hell with it! BIRD GO!"

In the absence of a Galactor threat, the Eagle focused his senses on his civvies as they transformed into birdstyle. He was waiting for the mind-blowing sensations that the prototype had given him. Instead, all he got was a sweeping caress – no, it wasn't even a caress – more like a whiff of wind that came and gone.

"Now that was a major letdown," Ken remarked in disappointment. "But…back to the business at hand!" He wiped away the fog with his gloved hand and looked at his reflection again in the mirror.

This time, at last being able to get a real good look at his valiant alter ego, the Eagle had to admit that he WAS very impressed. The birdstyle was a flattering fit, practically hiding nothing on his body. Without ISO business in mind, sundry body parts were reacting to the intense perusal that was being given to them – the tiny points at his chest tightening against the friction with the thin fabric, six pack abs flexing to draw attention to the deep pit of a navel, a bulge in the crotch which couldn't be due to any type of padding.

"No wonder Joe sees me as a sexpot whenever I'm wearing this," Ken mused, preening at the tantalizing vision in the mirror.

Wanting to get a better look, the Eagle took off his helmet…only to have it slip through his fingers as he witnessed a startling change in his reflection.

The face that went with the birdstyle was a striking contrast to the slob he saw earlier – kind and gentle, which made him look younger than his eighteen years, wide blue eyes of an innocent child. The only contradictory feature was that he possessed the succulent lips of a seducer.

In the absence of a helmet, Ken has transformed into the angel Joe wanted him to be.

"Why, hello there!" Ken greeted his reflection with a shy, sweet smile. "I'm sure Joe would just die to meet you!"

Closing his eyes, the Eagle leaned forward and pressed his lips to the glass, until he felt the birdstyle tighten on his upper arms…as though someone was holding him.

 

Joe has this secret fantasy, which resulted from a mistake he had made when he was a playboy-in-the-making at the tender age of sixteen. Back then, he rebelled at the strict training they were made to undergo and yet, were not given the freedom that youngsters their age were enjoying.

It had happened during one rare summer break in the rest house. The person who had helped him steal out that night was a very reluctant Ken.

"I don't think you should be doing this, Joe," Ken had told him as they pushed the G-2 out of the garage and into the street. His eyes had turned stormy blue in disapproval.

Giving his best friend a reassuring grin, Joe had patted the back pocket of his jeans. "Don't worry! I got protection right here."

"Actually, I think it's the poor lady you're going to end up with who's going to need protection from you."

"SHUT UP!!" Joe had snapped back as he jumped into his car and drove away.

When Joe had reached the city, he went straight to the red light district. Since his time was limited – thanks to a midnight curfew set by Ken, he had chosen to enter the first bar that caught his eye, a place with the questionable name of the Peachy Papaya. It was a ratty looking hole, with a garish pink and green neon sign showing a bowl of bananas with a round green fruit in the center.

As Joe had soon discovered, however, there was nothing peachy about the Papaya. It turned out that the drinking establishment that had the dubious privilege of being the first to enjoy his under-aged patronage was actually a gay bar. He should have snuck out then, just to spare himself from the embarrassment he had felt upon realizing WHERE he was. But he was prevented from doing so because – as expected – his macho good looks and dark, moody eyes gained him unwanted attention from a group of leather-clad bikers who asked him if he knew how to use a whip. At that time, he was still that naïve to suspect that they were Galactor recruiters looking for torture experts.

So driven by a strong sense of civic duty that was bolstered by a shot of mezcal – no, he wasn't sure that he HADN'T drunk the big fat worm sitting at the bottom of his glass, Joe plastered his pubescent butt to a seat right in front of the stage…and found himself gaping at the sexiest angel he had ever seen in his young life.

The wings had been forgettable – nothing but large cardboard cutouts with faded feathers and glitter pasted on them. That face, with its dark blue eyes, and that mahogany hair –which came down to slender shoulders – had reminded Joe of someone, someone whose name had become lost in the psychedelic haze that had suffused his system so unused to alcohol.

What had permeated inside his mind was what the angel had worn as he gyrated on stage – if the ornate jewelry and gold chains, which were the sole adornments of his lithe body, could qualify to be called an 'outfit.' He had only seen such intricate jewelry on women in the porn magazines he had been pilfering from the older trainees' locker rooms back at the base. But Joe never imagined how stunning they would look on a man.

Even when he returned to the rest house a minute shy of midnight, that kinky jewelry remained firmly etched in his memory.

That – and the haymaker Ken had given him when he answered his friend's curious questions with a drunken, "I met a reeeal sexy male hooker…and he looked just like you."

Chuckling, the Condor peered down at the succubus who was drawing curlicues on the olive-toned skin of his chest with the tip of his tongue. "You're not going to punch me again, are you, Ken?" he asked, running his fingers through those tousled locks.

Dream Ken laid his chin on Joe's sternum and blinked at him in confusion. "Now why would I do that?"

He was right to ask that question, Joe mused. This was a dream after all, _his_ fantasy. While the real Ken was sure to gut him and bleed him out to dry like a turkey for what he was planning to do, he could do anything he wanted with his dream lover.

Cupping that taut butt, Joe pulled his Dream Ken towards him. With both hands, he reached for the turtle neck collar of the birdstyle and murmured, "You're gonna love this."

 

Ken stumbled away from the mirror in shock. His back struck the window hard, causing the shutters to bang open and raindrops to blow in gusty sprays into the room. But the rain that was drenching him was the least of his worries; what had seized his heart in a grip of cold fear was his birdstyle, which seemed to have come to life.

The Eagle shuddered as his costume twitched against his skin, wrinkling along the slopes of his shoulders and converging at his neck. Then, the collar simply gave way, stretching wide apart as though it were made of nylon instead of one of the strongest fibers on the planet. When it could not stretch as far as the breadth of his shoulders, instead, it began to dissolve into a thick, pulsating slime.

"No! Don't!" Ken gasped as a column of warm goo crawled up to caress his face – a tiny tendril snaking out to trace the delicate bow of his lips – before slipping down his neck and shoulders.

Reflex made him cross his arms over his body to stem the dissolution of his uniform, only to find his gloves also changing into ooze, which crept up his arms like slender snakes to merge with the bulk of slime that was converging at his torso. What remained of his gloves were shimmering blue wires that were curled around the length of his arms, forming exquisite designs. Remembering his bracelet, he raised his left wrist and shouted "BIRD GO!" Instead of responding to the voice command, the birdstyle slammed him against the window frame. Ken would've toppled backwards and fallen headfirst to the ground below if he hadn't gripped the edge of the window.

Helpless and terrified, the Eagle could only squeeze his eyes shut and bite down on his lower lip as the ooze that was once his birdstyle began a most thorough exploration of his body. Worse, like the groping tentacles of an octopus, it found the spots that ignited the fires that no amount of sheer will and discipline could abate.

Tears trickled down Ken's cheeks as the mounds of his chest were squeezed and fondled, drawing up the pink areolae to enable glistening white threads to coil around the base of his nipples, keeping the nubs painfully taut. More tendrils snaked down – teasing his washboard abdomen – and wrapped around his genitals, pulling his member to a semi-erect state. Even his boots had dissolved into slimy runnels that crept up the length of his legs and thighs and glided along the smooth curves of his buttocks.

In spite of his fear and the humiliation he was feeling at his body's intense arousal from the unrelenting stimulation, the Eagle's sharp mind ran through a quick analysis of his predicament. He soon realized that there was a direction to the birdstyle's movements. Without a doubt, it was transforming into…something.

This conclusion reached, Ken dared to look down at himself to discover that his uniform had been reduced to slender white chains, the links of which are in the shape of feathers. The chains flimsily held together intricate adornments that did nothing to cover the intimate parts of his body. Crimson eagles with wings lifted for flight cupped each breast, the talons clamped tight to his tits. As he trained his gaze even lower, he saw that his genitals were enveloped in a mesh of fine glittering chains. Instead of boots, the Eagle was wearing Roman sandals, with the lace straps crisscrossing his calves. To make up for the absence of a utility belt around his waist, a sheath was strapped to his bare right thigh, with his trusty bird rang tucked inside.

The transmutation process, however, did not stop here.

With a pain-filled cry, Ken dropped to his knees as the chains yanked the ornaments on his chest and crotch, drawing his tits and cock to agonizing hardness, as the bulk of the birdstyle's substance converged to his back. He didn't have to guess what was happening – that the adornments and chains were parts of a harness to which the pair of great wings that were forming on his back were attached. The urgent tugging of developing wings upon his acutely sensitive anatomy was driving him to heights of pleasure he had never experienced before.

From a hazy corner of his mind, the Eagle remembered what had happened to his teammates – how their uniforms had changed into something else. The knowledge of his unseen tormentor's identity was like a dead weight on his chest that made breathing difficult.

_Is this your doing, Joe? _Ken thought bitterly. _Are you changing me into the angel you always wanted me to be? Damn you! It's not going to work! _

Fury and desire became as one as Ken lifted his left hand to his chest while his right closed around his aching cock.

"Tell me, Joe. Can an angel do what I'm doing now?" the Eagle asked between every sharp intake of air as he tweaked his hardened nipples and pumped his weeping member in a steady rhythm. "Well, I can…because I…AM NOT…AN ANGEL!"

Again and again, he stimulated himself relentlessly until he reached the precipice. With a moan, Ken gripped his cock at the base, denying the release he craved. His left hand dipped to the region between his thighs. Arching his body back against the wall, he thrust his hips forward and spread his long legs, bent at the knees, exposing the tiny opening that was waiting to be breached.

His tears mixing with the rain that was soaking him to the bone, he positioned his two fingers at the orifice – ready to plunge them in when he, at last, permitted his straining erection to fire its load.

Gritting his teeth, Ken poured out the anguish that was bottled up inside his heart. "I'm not an angel, Joe! I'm just a human being who wants you to love me!"

As he released his member, the powerful waves of orgasm crashed into him, like the churning sea waves upon rocky cliffs. Screaming Joe's name, the Eagle felt his come splatter on the cold, wet skin of his chest and belly. There was only one thing left for him to do to bring his utter degradation to completion.

Ken was about to jab his fingers into his ass, when a strong hand gripped his wrist and yanked it up. Nothing could describe the devastating shame he felt as he looked into the red, furious face of the Condor.

 

To his sheer delight, Joe watched in awe as his spectral lover transformed into the angel of his fantasies. But he wasn't too far gone in his dream not to hear his name called out from the adjoining bedroom. There was no mistaking the fear and pain in Ken's voice.

Without thinking twice, Joe jumped out of bed and hurried to the door, breaking it open with a kick. He thought it was a surprise attack by Galactor. The Condor never expected to find Ken sprawled on the floor underneath the window, rain pouring on his transmutated form.

Seeing those beautiful wings, Joe could not stifle his gasp, his horrified gray eyes gazing down at the red bracelet around his wrist. _Oh my god! Did I do this to him?_

If it was shocking enough to behold his fantasy become reality, even more was the sight of the Eagle in the act of masturbation, getting ready to deflower himself with two stiff fingers.

Joe crossed the distance between them in two long strides and seized Ken's hand before he could hurt himself. As if waking into a terrible nightmare, wide blue eyes blinked back at him in horror and shame.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Joe demanded in a voice so loud that it made the Eagle wince. "Do you know you could've seriously injured yourself? You could've suffered internal bleeding!"

Ken jerked his hand out of Joe's grip. "Let me go! You have no right to barge into my room and interfere with my business. I knew what I was doing!"

"Oh really? A virgin like you? Do you honestly expect me to believe that someone as inexperienced as you knows what he's doing? If you think I'm just going to stand by and watch you debase yourself, then you're wrong!"

"You're concerned that I'm 'debasing' myself?" Ken asked incredulously. His frustration and anger exploded out of him like lava from a pent-up volcano. "You pushed me to this, Joe! YOU! I chose to wallow in the muck…because you're too much a fucking coward to acknowledge the feelings you have for me!"

The Condor felt his voice catch in his throat at that outburst. He could not offer a rebuttal, because everything the Eagle said was true.

Rising to his feet, Ken showed Joe his new form, spreading his white and crimson wings behind him.

With bitter tears streaming down his face, Ken continued with his tirade. "You accused me of looking like a sex object when I'm wearing my birdstyle. But what do you call this, huh? This…_this thing_…you turned me into is a mockery of the pure, celestial being you claim I resemble! You say I'm your angel, Joe? In your heart, you want me to be your whore!"

"No, that's not true! Ken, let me explain!" Joe was crestfallen when the Eagle turned his stiff back to him and faced the window. Realizing his friend was about to bolt, the Condor reached out to stop him. "KEN, WAIT!"

One minute, Ken was standing there; the next minute, he was gone, leaving a single white feather in Joe's hand. Looking out the window, he could see the dim outline of the suicidal figure flying through the stormy night sky, unmindful of the forks of lightning that were threatening to hit him.

Cursing Nambu for giving him the transmutation bracelet, Joe ran back inside his bedroom and swiftly put on his civvies. Thrusting the prototype inside his jeans pocket, he strapped his blue bracelet back around his wrist.

With a cry of "BIRD GO!" the Condor dashed down the stairs, out the front door and into the lashing wind and rain in pursuit of the runaway Eagle.


	5. Chapter 5

 

**PART FIVE**

 

Battered by the driving wind and rain, Joe pressed on deeper and deeper into the forest. Although his birdstyle provided ample protection from the wet and cold, his body shivered in reaction to his gruesome imaginings of what could be happening to his angry teammate in this terrible weather. Reacting to his increasing agitation, a tiny part of his brain veered away from this unpleasant train of thought to ponder upon whether this freakish storm was natural or not. The suddenness by which it appeared already gave him reason for doubt. The unending barrages of lightning and the deafening cracks of thunder made him feel as if he was right smack in the middle of a war zone. Instinct was screaming at him that this was the work of Galactor.

Panting, the Condor paused beneath a tree to catch his breath, only to have a gust of wind send rainwater arching under his visor and into his nostrils, so that he had to wheeze and cough to clear his airways.

Pounding his fist against the tree trunk, Joe scolded himself, _This is not the time to be thinking about Galactor, damn it! Ken could be somewhere out there – sick, hurt or worse – and it's all my fault! _

As he straightened up, the acrid smell of ozone filled the air and static electricity caused the hairs on his arms to stand on end. To his awe, he was starting to glow with a blue aura. That time-honored warning popped into his head – Never seek shelter under a tree in the middle of a lightning storm.

"Oh, shit!" Joe exclaimed as he leaped behind some thick bushes. In his haste to seek cover, he did not notice the winged figure that took off from the treetop.

Just in time. The Condor thought he had suffered a heart attack when a lightning bolt struck the tree he had been standing under and blew it up into fiery splinters.

Furious and frustrated, he emerged from his hiding place and railed at the heavens, "What the fuck was that? Don't tell me you're mad at me too? Gimme a break!"

The lightning flashes in the thick clouds and the low, ominous rumble of thunder were eloquent enough answers.

Clasping his hands together in fervent prayer, Joe begged, "Please don't kill me yet…not until I find Ken and tell him how sorry I am. Maybe…that is, if you're feeling extra generous…maybe you can allow me to score with him, even just a little bit and…"

**BOOM!**

His face turned as white as a sheet at that sudden explosion of thunder. The Condor shook his head to clear the ringing in his ears.

"All right! I got it! I won't do anything without Ken's consent!" Joe hastily amended his entreaty. "If you don't mind, please make this rain stop so that I could find him? I…I can't forgive myself if anything bad were to happen to him."

To his surprise, as if in answer to his prayer, the rain settled down to a gentle drizzle.

With a wave of gratitude to the sky, the Condor said, "Thanks! Oh, one last teensy weensy favor! Would you be so kind as to point me in the right direction?"

Now that the heavy downpour had ceased, he heard the muffled beeping coming from inside his pocket. His face lit up in joy as he pulled out the prototype bracelet. He had completely forgotten that Ken's birdstyle was still under its control. It would be easy to locate the Eagle with its tracker. Strapping the red bracelet to his right wrist, Joe allowed it to guide him.

The Condor, however, underestimated the tenacity of the Eagle who absolutely did not want to be found. There were moments when the beeping would slow down or stop altogether before starting up again when Joe changed direction. Unfortunately, for Ken, the Condor was just as determined to find him at all cost.

It was at the vicinity of the spring with its small waterfall that the beeping stopped completely. This spring was their favorite hiding place. He and Ken had spent many a summer during their childhood here, swimming and playing in its crystal clear waters. At the memory of those long lost times, his shoulders sagged in weary defeat as he leaned against an oak.

_What am I going to do now? How could I explain what happened to the others?_ Joe asked, forlorn. _I'm to blame for all this! If I hadn't been such a damned coward, none of this would've happened, and Ken…_ His hands closed into tight fists at his sides. _…We'd still be together, even if we're just friends and comrades-in-arms_.

The memory of the Eagle's smiling face filled his mind, tearing his heart to shreds. "Ken…where are you?" the Condor muttered, his voice hoarse with emotion. "How can I tell you I'm sorry for what I did to you? KEN!!"

Joe was about to punch the tree…when the red bracelet began to beep once more. For a few seconds, he stared in disbelief at Nambu's prototype. Keeping his arm straight forward, he slowly turned in place, noting the changes in the volume and rhythm of the beeping. But, there were only a few young trees and moss-covered rocks in the area, which would be inadequate to conceal a strapping young man. In fact, the only tree big enough to hide him was the oak he was standing underneath and…

The Condor froze where he stood. Something warm and wet fell on the bracelet's titanium face and he saw that it was a drop of blood. To be sure, he raised his right wrist above his head, listening as the steady beeping speeded up to a staccato. Slowly, Joe craned his neck backwards to look up into the tree, his steel gray eyes growing larger and larger as his gaze fell upon the pale, half-moon curve of a…

"OWWW!" Joe cried out, more in surprise than pain as something hit his visor. He glared down at the offending object lying at his feet. "What the…an acorn?"

"BIRD SEED!"

"Huh? What kind of fucked up battle cry is that?"

The Condor, however, did not find it amusing when he was pelted with acorns and pinecones in a variety of shapes and sizes with pinpoint accuracy. And those hard nuts hurt, damn it!

"This isn't funny, Ken! Stop acting like a kid and get down from there!"

"FIRE SEED ATTACK!"

"Now hold on--!"

Joe swept his wings over and around him as he was bombarded by a flurry of flaming nuts. One burning pinecone bounced off the top of his helmet to be followed by an acorn that struck his visor. If he were not wearing his helmet, the smoldering nut would've hit him right in the eye.

Snarling, Joe pulled out his air gun. "Ken, I'm warning you! If you don't quit it right now, I swear to God I'll shoot!"

"BIRD RANG!"

The Condor dropped to the sodden ground as the weapon sailed past his ear. On its return swing, the bird rang almost nicked the side of his neck.

"Damn you! You nearly took my head off!" His temper way past his means to control, Joe did not hesitate and fired the blade and cable through the tree. There was a shocked cry within as his hook caught his quarry. Tugging at the cable, he shouted, "Don't make me pull you down, Ken! Give up peacefully!"

Suddenly, there was no resistance at the other end of his cable. Joe approached the tree cautiously. As he drew near, he could hear the soft sounds of weeping. Looking up, he saw Ken curled up on a stout branch, his face buried in his bent knees. With those white and crimson wings covering his drenched, shivering form, he looked like a lost chick. The blade and cable were wrapped around his right ankle. But what shocked the Condor was the bleeding cut on Ken's leg, just above the gleaming edge of the blade.

"Ken…you're hurt…"

"Joe, if you have any sense of decency left in you," the Eagle said between choked sobs, not looking at him, "you'll change me back right now. Please, Joe! I don't want to be like this!"

If Joe had not been fully aware of the depth of the wound he had inflicted upon Ken's heart, now he was. Even when Ken's father died, never had he heard the Eagle sound so hollow and desolate, as though despair had permeated to the very core of his being. The Condor's conscience nagged him to give in to that plea, to heal that wound.

And for what? To have things go back to the way they were before? Every fiber of his being rebelled at the thought.

Before he even realized he was doing so, Joe spoke his dissension out loud, "No, I won't!" As Ken flinched visibly at those words, he knew that the Eagle had been expecting his acquiescence, and he won't give him that.

Ken looked at him then, his eyes swollen and his flushed cheeks wet with bitter tears. "Why, Joe? Haven't you done enough to me? I know I said that I'm not the angel you believe me to be, but…what is this?" He gestured helplessly to his near naked form. "This isn't anything like the design you showed Hakase and I. This is…for heaven's sake, Joe…I feel so cheap! If this is how you've always seen me – as just a mere sex object, then I don't think I could love you anymore!"

The Condor felt those words like bullets shot through his heart. "I…I understand how you feel," he began, his voice strained with emotion. "I can see how much I've hurt you. But…I don't want to change you back! How can I…when the man I've long dreamed of having is right here, right now. And that he wants me just as much as I want him."

Ken was about to argue, but Joe cut him off. "You say you're not an angel, but to me, you are. I've always seen you as someone I could only love and admire from afar. So noble, so pure. But then, things changed…that night when we were sixteen and you helped me sneak out of the rest house so that I could have a good time in the city. I wasn't lying when I told you that I had met a sexy male hooker who looked just like you. He was dancing on stage, dressed as an angel, almost the same outfit as what you're wearing now, except that yours is…" He let out a wry laugh to hide his growing embarrassment. "Funny thing was he didn't just look like you. The minute he saw my drooling teenaged mug gawking up at him, he stopped dancing and marched down the stage. He hauled my drunken ass off the stool, told the bartender to get me a cup of coffee, and plunked me down at a corner table. He practically chewed my head off that a minor like me would even dare to enter, much more actually drink, in a gay bar – something you would have done. God, he even sounded like you!"

"Then," Ken timidly put in, his curiosity piqued, "nothing happened between you?"

The Condor shook his head. "He told me to save myself for the person I truly love. But…I was never really good in following advice. The bad thing was it was after that night that Hakase announced that he was running tests on the birdstyle prototypes. The first time I saw you in birdstyle, it just sent all these mixed up signals into my head. It was as if you and that angel in the gay bar have become one, transformed into the ultimate lover of my dreams. Since then, I've been going through an endless cycle of brief flings and one night stands to fight these urges, but all these encounters left me hollow and empty inside. The only times I was truly happy was when I was with you. But with the kind of man I've become, how could I even dare to dream to have and to hold, much more to love, the one whom my heart cries out for the most?

"But these recent months," Joe confessed with deep shame, "it has gotten worse. Every time I see you in your birdstyle, I begin to imagine all the things I want to do to you, things that I have done with the nameless woman of the previous night. I felt like I was the lowest form of animal for thinking such impure thoughts about you. That's why I ended up transferring all my shame, anger and frustration upon our uniforms. I sought to change you into the image that would keep you safe from my filthy desires, and yet, I had been indulging in dreams of sating my lust upon you in the form that I found you most sexually alluring. I would have taken this secret fantasy of mine to my grave. I never realized that my own heart would betray me…" He showed the Eagle the red bracelet on his wrist. "…Through this."

Joe could no longer hold back his tears. "It was never my intention to do this to you, Ken. The last thing I wanted was to cheapen you with my dirty desires. For this, I am truly, truly sorry. But I won't be a coward any longer and hide behind the wings of the birdstyle." He humbly lowered his gaze and pressed his right hand over his heart. "This pitiful excuse of a man is offering himself to you – with this shameful body that has given its favors too freely to many and this frivolous heart that has only now come to realize that it can love no other but you."

Lifting his tear-filled eyes up to the Eagle, Joe cried out, _"Tu sei il mio angelo, Ken! Non posso vivere senza voi!"_

As soon as these words escaped his lips, there was the flapping sound of wings. In a flurry of white and crimson feathers, Ken flew into his arms and buried his face in the Condor's chest.

Joe closed his eyes and sighed in immense relief as he hugged the angel in his arms. In his happiness, he chuckled softly and said, _"L'aquila è atterata."_

_"Idiota!"_ Ken snapped back. His blue eyes shining with light and love, he commanded, _"Vieni que e baciami, Condor."_

It was an order that Joe was only too happy to obey. He took off his helmet and let it fall to the ground. Pulling the Eagle close, he kissed him passionately, their lips parting to allow their tongues to clash and taste each other's moist depths.

_"Ti amo, Joe…Ti amo, tanto."_

_"Kimi o ai shiteru, Ken."_

 

To Ken, everything around him seemed to have taken on a dream-like quality. Part of it could be attributed to the spring with its sparkling waterfall, which cast a fine white mist upon the place, giving it an aura of magic and peace. Then, there was the man who was kneeling before him, wrapping the cut on his leg with a bandage. There was a frown on Joe's brow, which he was aching to smooth away with his fingertips.

"Ken? Did I do…this…to you?" the Condor carefully cupped the wounded leg. There was the reason for his concern.

"No," Ken reassured him with a shake of his head. "It was a jagged piece of wood, when a lightning bolt struck the tree I was hiding in."

The shocked expression on Joe's face was priceless. "You mean you were there?"

"Uhm hmm. Of all the places you had to stop and rest, it had to be under that tree. I came very close to screaming at you to get lost." Ken shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know. God must've gotten pissed off with me for acting like a melodramatic fool and wanted you to find me immediately."

"Well, I thought God wanted to kill me!" Joe put in, rubbing his chest as it began to pound at the memory of that near fatal lightning strike. "That was way too close for my comfort!" He reached out to touch a slightly burned feather on the Eagle's left wing. "So that's why you're a little singed around the edges."

Ken laughed lightly at that observation. "I guess it's true what people say – God must really love fools like us."

"I wouldn't put it that way, but yeah. I guess you're right. I'd probably say the same about Nambu-Hakase."

"Hakase? How did he get involved in this?"

The Condor tinkered with the red bracelet on his wrist. "He was the one who gave this to me. In retrospect, I wondered why he did. Hakase never let us do trial runs on his inventions without ordering his engineers to do thorough tests first." Pouting, Joe let out a snort. "He probably wanted to see me make a complete idiot out of myself."

"Are you saying that it's this bracelet that's been causing all those weird transmutations?" the Eagle asked in surprise.

"Partly. It wouldn't work without input from in here." Joe pointed to his head.

Ken glanced down at his all too revealing attire and grimaced. "I'd say it worked wonders with you wearing it." Abiding a perverse urge, he leaned back and stretched, exposing his luscious body to the Condor's full view.

With a cough, Joe turned away and let his eyes roam all over their surroundings. "Who'd ever thought this cozy little nook would still be here?" He ran his fingers over the thick bed of moss beneath them. "Remember? When we were kids, we used to nap here. We'd end up oversleeping and, the next thing we knew, Nambu-Hakase had a search party scouring the woods for us."

"I really felt sorry for Hakase, hearing him calling out our names. He was so worried about us. But, evil brat that you were, you'd hug me tight and clamp a hand over my mouth before I could tell him where we were."

A devilish grin went up the corners of Joe's mouth. "How about we do a little reenactment for old time's sake?"

Ken squealed in surprise as Joe pulled him down from the rock he was sitting on and laid him on the soft moss, taking extra care with the wings on his back. A deep red flush colored his cheeks when the Condor embraced him and soft lips pressed over his mouth.

"Uh…Joe? You never…kissed me…back…then," Ken reminded him in between dainty kisses.

"Nope, but I always wanted to." Fluffing up the Eagle's mane in his palms, Joe nuzzled his face in those soft silk tresses. "Even after all this time, you still smell like baby's breath."

"And your body's just as warm as I remember it, like I'm lying next to a furnace."

"Ken?"

"Hmm?"

"I promised the Big Guy up there…" Joe pointed to the clearing sky. "…That I wouldn't do anything without your consent."

"Consent for what?"

It was the Condor's turn to blush. "Uh…you know."

Ken smiled inwardly. "O-kay…"

"So?" Joe asked expectantly.

"Don't you think you have to get out of your clothes first? This is rather unfair to me. I'm practically naked while you still have your birdstyle on."

"That can be easily remedied. Just give me a sec."

Joe went off a short distance away and shouted, "BIRD GO!" Before the bright aura of transmutation could even diminish, Ken could make out his dark outline as he peeled off his clothes. But when he was done undressing, the Condor stood motionless, gazing off into the trees.

At that moment, the full moon broke through the cover of the clouds, casting an unearthly glow upon the Condor. With his chiseled features in profile and his gloriously naked body gleaming in the moonlight, he was like one of those marble statues in Rome that had endured the ravages of time. And indeed, despite being only eighteen, Joe had been through many trials, which would've broken lesser men.

Seeing his beloved comrade so grave and still gave Ken cause for concern. "Joe? What is it? Is something wrong?"

"Is this just a dream, Ken?" Joe's voice was heavy with dread. "I'm…afraid. What if I turn around and find that you're no longer there?"

_Oh, Joe! _Ken slowly stood up. "Condor…turn around and look at me."

 

Joe heard that soft command, but fear – unlike anything he had ever felt before, even when facing the most evil men of Galactor – was overwhelming him.

"Joe?"

_No! I can't bear it if this is all just a dream! _

There was a mildly exasperated sigh. "If you don't look at me, I swear to God I'll leave you."

The Condor whirled around then, only to gasp at the ethereal vision before him.

Ken was standing at the edge of the spring, surrounded by white mist. Both arms were raised to him invitingly. Because the storm had abated, tiny fireflies hovered around him. With his beautiful wings unfurled, revealing his jewel-ornamented body, he was truly a sight for a yearning heart.

Joe took one step towards that beckoning figure…then another…and another. Apprehension, however, made him pause just a few feet away from the other man. It was Ken who reached out and pulled him close so that they were standing face to face.

"Tell me, Joe," Ken whispered huskily, giving him a teasing kiss. "How real do you want me to make it for you?"

The long, graceful fingers that carded through his nape-length locks with desperate urgency were painfully real to the Condor. That, and the pressure of full lips upon his mouth, demanding his heated response, which he was only too eager to give. If it were possible, Joe would have sucked out Ken's soul with every intake of air. Instead, he contented himself with nibbling at that pouty lower lip and insinuating his tongue inside that sweet mouth to taste the delectable juices within.

It was Ken who pulled away first, as though burned by the ignited passions in his lover. His cheeks were flushed and lips swollen from the demanding kisses. Seeing him draw tiny gasps of air through the opening between his lips, Joe would have plundered that mouth again.

But the Eagle had something else in mind.

"Look into my eyes, Joe."

Obeying this command, the Condor found himself mesmerized by shimmering limpid pools that have become the midnight blue of the rolling ocean. Like a graceful wave or a flirty mermaid, Ken undulated his body forward to press his fevered skin lightly upon Joe's flesh, and then drew back before his lover could react to that whisper of a touch. Joe moaned as hardened nipples brushed against his own taut nubs, engaging in little kisses of their own. Wanting to grind those teasing tits against the firmness of his chest, he made to pull the Eagle to him. Ken, however, shied away, but not before giving the Condor's groin a nudge with his own growing member.

"K…Ken…"

"No, not yet. Not until I've had my fill of you."

The Eagle wrapped his arms around Joe, bending his elbows at the back and his hands reaching up to grip those strong shoulders. Joe gulped hard as a lascivious tongue moistened the Cupid's bow of Ken's lips. Pressing himself fully to Joe's body, Ken slid down – the Condor gasping as erect nipples drew lines on his skin – and his mouth latched on to a turgid tip. Joe could not stifle his whimpers of delight, as Ken moved from one hard pebble to the other, nibbling and suckling greedily upon them. Tiring of this sport, the Eagle moved even lower, bestowing butterfly kisses upon Joe's quivering abdomen and poking at the hollow of his navel with the tip of his tongue.

When tentative fingers cradled his erection, Joe knew what was about to happen next. It did not help any that Ken was gazing with intense fascination at his oozing cock.

"Ken…" Joe mumbled, his voice strained at the effort of keeping his tightening balls from firing its load at that pretty face. Just keeping his knees from buckling under him was a Herculean task. "Ken…I don't think you should do this."

Noticing the trembling in the Condor's lean legs, Ken pushed him down on the rock and knelt between the spread knees.

With a bat of those obscenely long eyelashes and a knowing smile curling up the corners of his lips, the Eagle remarked, "Joe…I may be a virgin, but it doesn't mean I'm innocent. Besides…you're not the only one with secret fantasies. Let me indulge in mine."

The Condor bit down on his lip to stop the cry that was rising up his throat, as Ken pressed his lips to the blunt head of his cock, his tongue licking and swirling along its length. At the lingual tribute being paid to his burgeoning erection, Joe's breathing became heavy and labored. When Ken drew in a deep breath and swallowed him down to the root, Joe abandoned all control. Gripping the back of the Eagle's head, he thrust inside the furnace of Ken's silken throat, feeling it constrict convulsively around his rod. He did not want to come inside that sweet mouth. But when Ken let his tongue slide along his cock, Joe spilled his seed in a seemingly endless gush. Even when he was released, he continued to spurt his juices – some spattering on the Eagle's cheek. Ken even held his shooting member in his hand and let the come spill on his chest and belly.

Panting for air, Joe looked at Ken, awe-struck. "Where did you learn to do that? You've got a mouth that would put a hooker to shame."

"Should I take that as a compliment?" Ken asked smugly, rubbing his lover's come all over his body. Winking, he licked away the trickle of semen from the corner of his mouth. "I think I've done this to you a hundred times in my dreams. Nothing beats reality though."

Growling at that shameless teasing, Joe thumped the Eagle on the sternum with the heel of his hand and sent him tumbling down onto the bed of moss. Ken pursed his full lips into a shy smile as he lay back. With his long, chocolate tresses fanning out in waves, his jewel-bedecked body glistening with sweat and come, and his wings spread out behind him, to Joe, Ken looked like a tasty feast waiting to be partaken by the starving. And the Condor was practically ravenous.

But after the brazen flirting that the Eagle had given him, turnabout was fair play.

Smacking his lips hungrily, Joe raised his right wrist to show the red bracelet to his wide eyed lover and murmured ominously, "My turn now."

 

"Oh god, Joe! What are you…Ohhhh!"

"Did you like that, my sweet? Here's some more."

Ken was writhing on the ground, his body being stimulated to pleasurable, sometimes painful, heights by his birdstyle. Joe stood above him – manipulating the transmutating costume with his mind and the red bracelet – enthralled by the responses he was eliciting from his virgin lover.

The Condor couldn't help but chuckle, as Ken let out a luscious moan from just a mere brush of a wing feather along his flank. "And I thought I was the only one getting turned on by my birdstyle whenever we transmute."

"You should…talk…to Hakase," the Eagle spoke between little gasps. "Ask him…to give you…the readout…Aaaaah…prototype tests."

"What? And have it spoil my fun?" Joe cocked an eyebrow up. "Nothing beats the thrill of discovery."

When the Condor pinched his fingers, Ken's body arched upwards as the talon clamps squeezed his nipples. More graceful strokes in the air, and the chain sheath tightened around his cock, making it as hard as iron.

"Joe, please! I can't take any more of this torment!"

"Oh, but I've only just begun!"

Through passion-clouded eyes, the Eagle watched as his lover straddled him. With his arms kept pinned above his head by the birdstyle, he could only weep and twist his body as Joe bent down to lap the come from his chest and suckle upon his trapped tits. It was a small act of mercy when Joe released the clamps, but the pressure of his lips and the swirling of his tongue were more efficient implements of sexual torture. Searing heat suffused his breasts, causing his cherry red nipples to jut into aching points that tingled as the Condor spoke dirty little things to him.

"If you were a woman," Joe began, pulling Ken's chest towards his ravenous mouth, "I'd have you spurting milk right about now."

"If you keep doing that, you just might," Ken shuddered all over as the Condor nipped a tight nub between his teeth.

A callused hand stroked his member that the Eagle hissed under his breath. "It looks like this big guy is about to do just that." Joe made a dismissing gesture with his hands. "Enough of the games! EAGLE GO!"

Ken shut his eyes against the glare of transmutation. He sighed in relief as he felt his birdstyle slip away from his body, possibly changing back into his civvies a short distance away. However, this only exposed him completely to the predator who was determined to have his wicked way with him.

Baby blue eyes flew wide as his member made contact with an unexpected obstacle. He beheld Joe above him – his face flushed, hand gripping the Eagle's cock, which was poised beneath the opening between his legs.

"Joe, wait! Shouldn't I…prepare…you first?"

"Don't worry. Always…wanted…to do this."

"But…you haven't done this before, have you?"

Love shone in the Condor's gray eyes as he whispered, "You're not the only virgin in the Kagaku Ninjatai."

With teeth gritted, Joe eased down on the Eagle's hard rod. Ken could feel his lover tighten instinctively against the invasion. Although his brow was furrowed from intense concentration as he sank lower and lower, Ken could see that it was causing him great pain.

"Joe, that's enough! It's hurting you too much!"

"No! Can't stop now!" the Condor said stubbornly. "Work with me, Ken. Please!"

Not knowing what else to do, Ken thrust upwards into that straining body. At first, there was resistance and then he just slid in completely, eliciting a cry of relief and pleasure from Joe. With all restrictions gone, Joe bounced up and down along the Eagle's erection. For his part, Ken moved at the same relentless rhythm that the Condor had set. Being inside Joe, driving him wild with pleasure with every thrust…Ken wanted to prolong the experience. But what was left for them to do after reaching the peak?

Ken flung his head backwards, his body arching like a bow, as he came inside Joe, filling him over and over again. When he fell back, weary but spent, he felt his lover pull away, blood and semen trickling from his ass.

"Oh, Joe! You're bleeding!"

"It's all right. But…I want…"

It was then that Ken saw that Joe was holding his hard cock in a death grip. Smiling, he spread his legs wide.

"I belong to you, Condor. Do what you will with me."

Joe still possessed some self-restraint to spread the pre-come that oozed from the slit of his erection. With a savage grunt, he pushed his hips forward and shoved the blunt tip past the ring of constricting muscle in the Eagle's ass.

Ken couldn't stop himself from letting out an agonized scream as muscles were torn and membranes abraded. At his cry, he felt Joe enfold him in his arms, a warm cheek pressed against his tear-streaked face.

"I'm sorry, Ken," whispered Joe, kissing his cheek again and again. "I'm sorry."

"I…I'm okay," the Eagle said reassuringly, although he could feel the rawness in his ass. "Don't stop now. I need…to feel you…inside me. Please! Give me more!"

The Condor knew that his lover was putting up a brave front for him. Brushing away Ken's tears with his thumbs, he swore, "No more pain. I promise."

And Joe made good on his word. Ken sobbed in delight as, inch-by-inch, the Condor sheathed himself. Many times, the head would grind against his prostate, causing rainbow-colored lights to flash before his eyes. Before long, they were joined together – one living, breathing organism with two hearts that beat in unison. Only one thing left to do to mark the total union of their bodies.

It was Ken who initiated the final act of their passion play by signaling the Condor on top of him with a not-so-subtle jerk of his hips. Joe needed no further encouragement than that as he began to move – his minute thrusts gaining in strength, speed and power until he was virtually rocking the lithe body beneath him. Mindful of the Eagle's need for release, Joe stroked his member as though he were holding the clutch of his car. Ken was in the throes of ecstasy as he held on to his lover with both arms and legs. This was what it felt like to be the G-2 – to be driven to the very edge of the horizon by a master driver.

With a tear-filled cry, Ken spilled his essence into the Condor's hand and between their gliding bellies. Joe tried to fight against the inevitable, the girth of his cock expanding to bursting point.

"Hang on!" he said hoarsely in the Eagle's ear.

With one mighty jerk and a victorious cry, Joe slammed Ken onto his lap, impaling him completely. As he did so, his seed gushed like a fountain within the depths of Ken's lower belly. For several earth-shattering moments, he held onto his lover until the eruptions of his dwindling rod subsided. Compared to his necessary roughness earlier, the Condor took great care in laying Ken back down on the cool moss, his body moving along in order to make sure that they remained joined.

Sweat trickling from his brow, Joe brushed away the wet strands of hair on Ken's cheek and gave him a most tender kiss.

_"Cara mia, ti voglio bene. Vorrei tras correre tutta la mia con te."_

The Eagle giggled at those passionate words. "Silly Italian boy! Always saying the most romantic things!"

"Why?" Joe gave him a dark scowl. "Don't you like it?"

"I do, but…you're supposed to back it up with action, and you look like you're about to fall asleep on me."

Groaning, the Condor plunked his head on his lover's breastbone. "Great! Now, he's insatiable!"

"Did you say something?"

Sighing, Joe muttered, "Please do tell me what you want from me."

Pretty blue eyes gazed down at him, as his rousing member was given a tentative squeeze.

_"Motto, motto!"_ said Ken eagerly, a playful tongue caught between even pearly white teeth.

Joe pinched Ken's nose. "Greedy little Japanese boy! I need more encouragement than that!"

"Uhm, then how about…_Il mio cuore è voi._"

The Condor bent down to take his lover into his embrace. Smiling, he murmured, "Yes, that'll do."

 

"God bless Nambu-Hakase for inventing birdstyles!"

The two lovers lay in sated bliss on their moss bed, the waterfall spraying droplets of water upon their bodies.

"Changed your mind, huh?" Ken asked, giving the Condor a wry look.

"Well, not completely," Joe said with a pout. "If anyone should give you a horny look while you're wearing your birdstyle, I'll poke his or her eye out with a feather shuriken."

"Joe, by your own admission, you're the only one who's been throwing horny looks at me."

"Yeah, probably because everyone's peeping at Jun's panties."

Ken rapped his lover on the forehead. "Don't start that again! You want Jun to kill you?"

"Don't you know? I'm practically a walking dead man." The Condor ran his palm acquisitively over Ken's buttock. "If she finds out what I did to you…"

Taking Joe's hand off his ass by the tip of his index finger, the Eagle pursed his lips at the red bracelet on his wrist. "And what are you going to do with that?"

"Oh, this? I thought I'd hang on to it for a while. It certainly did wonders for my love life!"

"If you're not going to return it to Hakase, you should let me borrow it from time to time. My sex life needs spicing up."

"Hah! If you think I'm going to subject myself to the lurid fantasies of a pervy ex-virgin like you, you've got another thing coming!"

"You're so unfair, Joe!"

"So sue me!" Chuckling, the Condor laid his tousled head on Ken's chest, his finger toying with a swollen nipple, which caused his lover to flinch. "Besides, I'm not the one who's got an overly sensitive body."

"Hmmph!" Ken glared down at Joe. "Are you purring again? Jeez, you really are a cat! The hairballs in your throat are sending vibrations throughout my body!"

"I don't have a hairball!"

It was then that they realized that the vibrations were coming from above, specifically from the droning engines of a descending God Phoenix. Its exhausts whipped tree branches and leaves into a frenzy. With no clothes close to hand to cover their nakedness, the two lovers lay frozen in place with arms wrapped around each other.

Jinpei announced with great pride over the communicator of their bracelets, "Guess what, Joe, Aniki? We destroyed Galactor's weather-changing mecha! Just the three of us! Looks like you two will become dispensable very soon! Ha ha ha!"

"Since we were in the area," Ryu put in, "we thought we'd check up on you guys. Did you miss us?"

"Hold on!" Jun's voice was dripping with suspicion. "What are you two doing out here and why are you…"

There was a shocked gasp from the Swallow. "Holy crap! They're NAKED!"

Brief sounds of a struggle followed, with Jun yelling, "Close your eyes! You're just a kid!"

But the Owl declared aloud a startling observation that Jinpei missed. "Is that…blood? And on both of them too!"

"Blood? Where? Where?"

"Shut up, Jinpei!"

"On their butts!"

"Why did you have to answer him, Ryu?"

"Man o man!" It was hard to miss the mixed delight and disgust in the Swallow's words. "Joe and Ken 'devirginized' each other! Poor Aniki! He must've been victimized first by the horny Condor!"

"For your information," Joe yelled into his communicator as he pointed at the Eagle, "it was this guy who did me first!"

"Is something still wrong with your head, Joe?" Ken asked dryly. "If I remember correctly, you did it yourself, using me."

"Joe Asakura, how could you!" Jun cried in dismay and despair. "It's not enough that you've been swiving every woman available in Utoland! You had to steal away the only available bachelor left to me in the ISO!"

"I'm still here," Ryu pointed out to her.

"Give me a few more years," Jinpei exclaimed. "I'll be a gorgeous hunk like Aniki in no time!"

"NOOOOOO!"

Nambu's stern voice interrupted their exchange. "Jun, Jinpei, Ryu…I've been wondering where you disappeared to. Head back to base immediately!"

"Yes, sir!" the three members of the Kagaku Ninjatai responded in unison, the Swan rather halfheartedly.

"We'll see you later, Aniki, Joe!"

"Yes, I will _definitely_ see you later, Joe! You can count on that!"

"You guys enjoy each other, okay?"

As the God Phoenix took off, Jun was screeching, "Ryu Nakanishi, don't say stuff like that! They don't need any more encouragement from you!"

When the God Phoenix was but a mere speck in the sky, there was a throaty rumble on their communicators.

"Well, Ken?" Nambu tried to sound professional, but those two words were enough to convey his interest in learning the juicy details.

Ken's answer was to hug the Condor and say simply, "I'm very, very happy, Hakase."

"Joe, I'm expecting that you'll make an honest man out of my best friend's son."

"You don't have to worry about a thing, sir," Joe said in reassurance. "You could say that we're strongly committed to each other."

"That's good to hear. I'll give you three more days of R 'n R, and then I want you to report back to Crescent Coral. And Joe, I want you to return the prototype."

"Do I have to?" the Condor whined pathetically.

"The reason why the weather-changing mecha happened to be in your area was because you were sending off radio signals that were easily tracked by Galactor. If you're going to use it, do so within the protective shields of the base."

Ken's jaw dropped at that last. "You mean you're still going to let him use it?"

Nambu cleared his throat. "Oh, and one last thing, boys! When you get back, make sure that you two are able to walk straight. Nambu out!"

The two lovers gaped at their bracelets in surprise.

Laughing, Joe swept Ken into his embrace, bestowing a passionate kiss upon those lovely lips.

"Who needs to walk," he said happily, "when I could fly with an angel!"

 

*** * *OWARI* * ***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRANSLATION
> 
> 1\. Italian: "Tu sei il mio angelo, Ken! Non posso vivere senza voi!" = "You are my angel, Ken! I can't live without you!"  
> 2\. Italian: "L'aquila è atterata." = "The Eagle has landed."  
> 3\. Italian: "Idiota! Vieni que e baciami, Condor." = "Idiot! Come here and kiss me, Condor."  
> 4\. Italian: "Ti amo, Joe…Ti amo, tanto." = "I love you, Joe…I love you so much."  
> 5\. Japanese: "Kimi o ai shiteru, Ken." = "I love you, Ken."  
> 6\. Italian: "Cara mia, ti voglio bene. Vorrei tras correre tutta la mia con te." = "My darling, I love you. I would like to spend all my life with you."  
> 7\. Japanese: "Motto, motto!" = "More, more!"  
> 8\. Italian: "Il mio cuore è voi." = "My heart is for you."


End file.
